Who needs Dust when you have Tape?
by AdmiralFyre
Summary: Into a world plagued not by the undead but by creatures of darkness, now the young mechanic turned survivor Nick Ramos will once again be thrown into a world where fighting to survive is a daily challenge. Yet with threats of terrorists, monsters and world conquest nothing seems to have changed much. Who knows, maybe he'll learn some new combos and ways to fight?
1. Chapter 1

=Ch.1: That's not a Zombie=

**A/N: Howdy folks, before ya begin with this story it was a simple idea I had, plus noticing a lack of crossover stories involving the lovely game of Dead Rising. This is my attempt at making a story ever so I apologize for the sucky way of storytelling. Anywho thank you for your time.**

**All properties of RWBY belongs to RoosterTeeth**

**All properties of Dead Rising belongs to Capcom**

Los Perdidos California, a once-bustling city and tourist destination for summer fun and hot outings, with its own local charm to boot. Like any city in recent times, precautions were had as a way to best avoid the worse outcome possible. What precautions would a city need anyhow? Natural disasters perhaps? Possible terrorist attacks maybe, invasions of either an army or terrestrial kind? Such possibilities were probable and never ignored but one precaution was never taken as seriously as others since the idea of such an event occurring was only the idea of mere fiction. Yet an outbreak of a monster once believed to be nothing more than seen on movie screens and books were very much now a real and dangerous threat. These threats had many names of course, but one name that all can remember and know of, such a simple name as well for a simple threat, they were known commonly as Zombies.

Fortunately, a cure, if you wanted to believe it to be one, was made for the infections, it couldn't save those who had turned sadly, but it was able to save those who had been bitten and infected and was able to stave away the danger of turning. At least now the medicine and cure known as "Zombrex" were more available and vastly more potent then it's initial creation during the Willamette outbreak 15 years ago. Folks all around were now being implanted with chips that would administer the medicine yet also acted as a GPS tracker as in the event the host became infected a signal would be sent and they would be removed.

Unfortunately, the use of chips caused civil unrest, most saying that the government would be able to track them easily, those people who refused to be chipped were called illegals and used the old school Zombrex injectors to get their medicine.

Yet even when the threat of a disease that caused the dead to feast on the living, you would think everyone would band together to seek an end to a threat that can very much wipe out humanity right? Of course, where people see misfortune and pain, others see profit, opportunity and a chance for power and it was this twisted view that when the whole of the United States had mass outbreaks occurring in major cities only allowed them to reap the dark benefits from the disaster.

It honestly was a major dick move, thankfully though when there are monsters, there are those who fight back against those monsters.

Nick Ramos was once again thinking to himself that he was way in over his head.

The first time was when he tried to leave the city three days after the initial outbreak and volunteered to scout ahead, only to discover the tunnel was bombed shut with both cars and the undead.

The second time was when a survivor by the name of "Zhi", had not only killed other survivors that stepped into his garden, had tried to kill Nick, forcing him to defend himself and somehow being able to beat the psychopath. Nick, however, had a front-row seat to seeing the man cut his own head off after going through a monologue.

Sadly for Nick similar occurrences with some survivors had occurred, all of which tried to kill him and all whom he had defeated and then promptly saw their demise at their own hands oddly enough.

He then recalled the various biker gangs and special forces units that tried to kill him as well over the week, and how each time he had won those battles either with the use of a firearm or with the very odd yet incredibly powerful weapons he had learned to create, taking a note from Chuck Greene and calling them "Combo Weapons".

Over the week Nick had come to learn a lot about himself. Starting with the fact that weapons that he made were downright impossible, yet he used them with great proficiency and familiarity. He somehow learned the plans to make what was essentially a Mini-Nuke using propane tanks and various homemade explosives that always blew his clothes off, save for his underwear. Those strange Juices that he found the recipes for were also odd in not only how they only needed two ingredients, but had proved beneficial to his survival in more than one occasion, but also had weird benefits to them with each variety having its own perk to it. He also learned that he had strange ease with hand to hand fighting and was really versatile with a Gung Hao, which was the same weapon that Zhi had tried to kill him with. Lastly, one being that the first girl he ever liked happened to be the daughter of survivor turned criminal Chuck Greene, who Nick believed such a fact being terrifyingly badass.

However, the real icing on the fucked up cake that was his week was the fact that the entire outbreak was planned, he was apparently a test subject and immune to the infection, zombies were evolving and able to somewhat use guns now. Also that he was wanted by the nation with a 5 million bounty on his head just because he had a number tattooed on his neck. And that he found out that a lot of people owned absurd amounts of weapons in Los Perdidos (Seriously, he found and used a damn Mini-gun that he found in a safe-house, not to mention a literal chainsaw sword.)

What a week.

Still, that was one of many thoughts going through his head before he-

"ROOOOAAARRR!"

Right, those things were chasing him, and for once he actually preferred the damn zombies at this very moment.

Nick couldn't remember anything that had happened, not a surprise since he couldn't remember his own childhood aside from being picked up by his mother/boss Rhonda and becoming a mechanic.

But here he was, running in a forest in the middle of the night and being chased by some nightmare monster, completely naked as well, but also the huge fact that he was way shorter than normal and didn't have ANY of his weapons. "Help me somebody please, anybody!" Nick yelled out. The only thing he could clearly remember was waking up next to a tree, feeling very cold and seeing glowing red eyes staring at him from a bush. Suffice to say was Nick was out of luck and could only keep running blindly into whatever direction he was facing.

Thankfully all the running from zombies and special forces that he had done in the city had worked wonders for him now that he was literally running from a snarling death, and the drive of fear fueling him. Nick kept on running, he tried to pull out a weapon as he has done in the week prior to at least try and fight it but nothing came out, so he kept on running until he saw a clearing up ahead. Nick looked back and saw that the monster that was chasing him was slowing down now, but as he was running he suddenly stopped as he collided with something.

"OOF!" sprawling back onto his ass and rubbing his forward as he had collided with something very solid, and looking up to see a man standing there, a giant of a man in fact.

Nick scrambled to his feet but before Nick could say anything the man asked, "Were you the one yelling in the woods boy?" Nick could make out a slightly confused expression on the man's bearded face due to the moonlight.

Nick was also surprised someone actually heard him at all, but as he was about to answer until he saw the man pull out a very large sword and start walking towards him. This caused Nick to panic and back away since he thought the man was going to gut him, but before he could beg to god for forgiveness, the man told him something.

"Stay behind me." as Nick saw the man walk past him and towards the monster that had been chasing him. Nick wanted to run again but couldn't as he felt some kind of strong aura surround the man making him flinch. Nick was glued to the spot in fear as he watched the man walk up to the monster with the sword ready.

The beast stood up and roared at the man, and although it was a night the moonlight was bright and allowing for the shape of the monster to be seen at least. To Nick, the monster looked like a giant bear.

The bear swiped at the man was a massive paw with the man taking a step to the side and returning the swipe with his own and cleaving half the bear's arm off. Before the monster bent over in pain allowing the man to step in suddenly and in a fluid motion struck the sword upwards through the monster bear's lower jaw and out the top of its head. The red glow of the monster's eyes faded away and once the man pulled the blade out of the beast's skull it slumped over dead.

"HAHA! Damn Ursas thinking they can stop me if dozen of you can't stop me what makes you think only one of you can?" the man laughed and then kicked the now named Ursa's head for the Hell of it and soon the body began to, well, it began to turn into some kind of black smoke.

"Hm, right then, you okay over there boy, still breathing I hope as well?" the man then turned to Nick and rested his sword on his shoulder and walked towards Nick.

Nick didn't realize he had his mouth upon until he felt a moth fly in and in an instance, both crunched on and spit the bug out, "Ah! **pffft~** I'm **ptoo~ **I'm alright… blegh"

The man tilted his head a bit and laughed once more, "HA! Good to hear boy, especially with your little Midnight streaking going on as well, surprised as well since you seem to be my own son's age, but young folks today I guess."

'Midnight Streaking?' what did he mean by that? Nick got his answer when he was suddenly aware of the cold breeze between his knees causing him to look down on himself in his full birthday suit and with a yelp used both hands to hide what he could.

Nick decided to just be honest, "I just woke up in the middle of the forest already naked and I actually don't remember how I got here, like at all… sir."

The man put a hand to his own chin in thought "And how exactly did you end up here then, near the settlement that is."

Nick only shrugged, "The first thing I saw when I woke up was red eyes, and I just started running in one direction, I had no idea where I was going and I didn't like the idea of becoming a midnight snack for a… Ursa right?"

The man then scratched his chin, "Yeah, it's like you haven't seen a Grimm before the boy."

Nick only stared back, "What's a Grimm?"

A sudden wind blew on by as silence filled the air.

Nick shivered and let out a sneeze.

The man snapped out of his wondering state, "Oh Shite, right you're naked and it's cold!"

The man then took off a coat he had been wearing and placed it around Nick, clearly being several sizes too big for him but the warmth and covering of his decency, was very much welcomed.

The man sighed, kneeling down and placed a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Okay lad, do you at least remember your name?"

Nick nodded, "My name is Nick Ramos."

The man gave a small smile, "Right then Nick, my name is **John Arc…** Ah, you know where your family is then?"

Nick then started to remember his friends and over the course of the week, found to calling them his family as well, Nick only sniffed at the memory and the cold, "I don't know what happened to them."

Nick would've said more but he suddenly felt himself slump forward only to be caught by John, "Woah boy, are you alright?"

Nick only mumbled in response "So… tired..."

John hummed to himself and picked Nick up and started to carry him back to his home.

Nick tried to stay awake but couldn't any longer, he wanted to thank John for saving him but only let out a mumble that wasn't heard.

"Alright then Nick, just you rest up now, you're safe and you'll be even safer when we get home. Might want to add that my wife might take a liking to you lad, heck even my kids might like you as well."

Nick didn't hear much of what John had said since he was already teetering into the grasp of sleep, but he did wonder if he heard what bits he did catch were right. But alas, Nick fell into the lands of dreams without even a second chance, all while being carried by John Arc.


	2. Chapter 2

**=Ch.2: The Long Dialogue Scene=**

**A/N: Weird thing happened when uploading, fixed it immediately, anyhow like the chapter says its mostly that. Have a great day and leave a review so I can learn how to make story good.**

**All properties of RWBY belong to RoosterTeeth**

**All properties of Dead Rising belong to Capcom**

Floating and a stinging sensation.

That's what Nick felt, confused he opened his eyes and panicked at what he saw. No longer was he in a forest but in a dark void of nothingness, he began flailing his arms and legs in hopes of touching something solid but to no avail. After a few minutes of panic, a thought came to his mind. 'I just have to be calm and pretend like I'm underwater.' after which Nick calmed down and righted himself up, or at least whatever direction "Up" was in the void, and even moved his arms and legs as if treading water.

Now calm, Nick looked around, so far he saw only endless darkness. He looked down at himself and noticed that he could see himself clearly despite the darkness, he almost illuminated in a sense and found that he was in his work coveralls again, although they were torn and damaged after his time in Los Perdidos, there was one major difference from when he last wore it. There was a tear in his coveralls that was surrounded by a large red stain on his chest seeming to be reddest on where his heart is, but before Nick could ask where it came from but a voice spoke out.

"_Sorry to say this hero, but that spot is from _a piece of a propeller going through your heart, the bright side is you died a hero!"

Nick looked around for the voice, "Hello, who said that who's there!?"

The voice seemed to echo now _"Calm down Nick, I can't hurt an already dead man now, __can I? But also just call me __**Guardian**__ alright? Besides this will be the first and only time that we will be talking to each other anyhow."_

Nick mainly noticed the voice, now named "Guardian" had some kind of accent that reminded him of those old western movies he used to watch.

"_Yes I know I do amigo, and also yes I can hear what you're thinking as well so it'll make things much simpler. Also yes you did die in the last world."_

Nick then remembered that Guardian did tell him he was already a dead man, and it did explain the blood on him, but ho-

"_After you kicked old General Hemlock into the propeller of that helicopter your crashed, during your short rest and talking to those folks on the radio, the propeller started back up again, unfortunately _

_the damn thing was way beyond busted so when it started spinning back up again you didn't really pay much mind to it. You could've heard it, but then your friends in the plane flew over and that caught your attention further, but no sooner did you get up did the propeller behind you explode, sending a piece flying into your back and right through the heart."_

Nick looked down on his chest and at the tear again, as he moved it aside he noticed a wicked-looking scar over his heart, the color of skin being slightly lighter than his own and showing where it had healed.

"_Also before you wonder why you're here Nick and not in the land of the dead, let me just say that I have a plan for you. You see your skills, as you may have noticed are both unusual but surprisingly common. Remember those two other fellas from the first two outbreaks? Well, they had skills very similar to your own, except yours are essentially the best variant of the skill."_

Nick nodded and was once more remembering his time in Los Perdidos, he knew he was ample with machines, but the weapons he had made didn't make sense even to him, and that's because he made them! Yet when he made them, the setup, what wire goes where and how exactly they were supposed to be used all came to him naturally, and because of this it helped not only himself survive, but also helped in saving countless others including his friends. Wait what about his friends what ha-

"_They're safe Nick, and yes they found you as well, some of them are still having a bit of trouble coming to terms with it, like Rhonda and Katey, but not all is bad. You know Isabela Keyes that doctor lady you saved, well she used your blood or what was left in your body at least and found a cure for the people who were infected. So at least take pride in knowing that even in death you still saved millions, Katey included, thanks to that blood of yours."_

Nick smiled and started to laugh softly, he continued laughing and started to cry. A mix of joy, sadness, and relief was in Nick now. Relief from knowing that a cure was made finally, Joy because, in the end, he was able to help and even save Katey, and finally sadness because no matter what, he'd never be able to save and what he had learned to feel be his family, ever again.

The Guardian gave Nick some time to himself in the void to come to terms with things, but after twenty minutes, Nick was feeling better.

"_I take it yer all reset now Nick?"_

Nick chuckled and nodded, "I am now, but 'Guardian' was it? You said you had something planned for me right, so can you tell me what is it?"

Nick then saw himself glowing Orange, at first he felt normal although confused since he was glowing, suddenly he felt real… Well, to put it bluntly, he felt '**Faaaantastic~**'.

"_Don't worry Nick just giving you an Aura for you to have is all, and before you ask, an Aura is a connection to the soul, I'm just giving you a big one because it will help in your situation. Also, Aura makes you kinda superhuman, you know better, faster, stronger all that good jazz. And remember that the stuff you held onto like weapons and foods, how you can hold so much and seemingly pull it out of thin air or carry around weapons with you at all times even when no one else saw them, as well as the fact that when you ate something your wounds healed? Well, that's gonna be your semblance that I call 'Survivor's Will' because you can hold onto anything because you have space ya know?"_

Nick did want to argue with that but gave it some thought since he recalled carrying two Ligh Machine Guns, a machete, a shotgun, a whole cooked pizza, a gallon of juice, a katana, a sledgehammer, a Guan Dao and lastly a chainsaw. All carried on him, but not **seen **carried on him, since he could essentially put them away somehow, but he also never really could put away anything else past 8 items, of course now without the undead threat the only point he can make of it was. "How the fuck did I even do all of that?"

Not to mention the fact that when he got shot or cut, somehow drinking a juice completely healed the wound and made him feel rejuvenated… Now that he thought about it once more, did he even sleep at all during that week? (Not counting the times he was knocked out of course.)

Before Nick could ponder any further a 'pop' was heard behind him and once turning around he saw a sturdy-looking black military looking chest in front of him.

"_That chest is full of clothes that you found and wore in Los Perdidos Nick, but you'll keep it once you get to a certain place later in life, by then you'll not only get this chest but a second special chest as well. Of course, I won't ruin the surprise for you because it would be no fun. Now with that out of the way time for why you're really here Nick."_

The chest in front of Nick suddenly blinked out of existence and startled Nick as how sudden it happened.

"_Don't worry Nick your stuff is safe, now then onto an explanation and then onto my plan so listen up, for I will be talking a lot."_

Nick then felt himself being thrown a great distance in the void and landing into a comfy red armchair with a large T.V screen being opposite of Nick slowly floating down in front of him. "Uh-"

"_Alright Nick, as you can recall, you woke up in a forest."_ The screen then flashed on showing a forest area.

"_In that forest, you were attacked by a monster, this monster was called an Ursa and is but one type of the creatures of Darkness known as Grimm."_ The screen changed to show a scene of different Grimm of different types, each snarling with some form of destruction and chaos behind each one.

"_These Grimm exist only to cause destruction and chaos and are attracted to any negative emotions to boot."_ The scene changed to show a bald man, bloody and torn clothing with an ax standing before a Grimm, it looked like a wolf, and the man was very angry if going by his face.

"_But with Darkness there is Light, this light is in the form of the Huntsmen and Huntresses that protect the world from these creatures and fight them off."_ The scene changed to show the bald man now standing atop the wolf with the ax going into the Grimm's neck, the bald man now having a few more cuts on him but with an angry if not victorious smile on his face.

"_These Huntsmen have two things, an Aura, which I currently injected a liberally healthy amount of into you."_ The screen changed and showed the same bald man suddenly has a glowing green outline around his body and weapon.

"_And a Semblance, which I will explain how yours works."_ The scene now showed the man raising a hand suddenly showed a small tornado forming in his hand and suddenly throwing it into the corpse of the wolf as the winds started to shred it apart.

"_To further explain, an Aura is a shield that uses your soul, it can break but can be recovered and can also heal you over time, you can think of it as a life bar if you like. Lastly, a Semblance is a power that is created by a person's Aura, and no two are the same. Such examples would be the ability to phase through walls and attacks like nothing, or being able to lower gravity within a bubble that you created."_

Nick was confused by the sudden information that was thrown at him, but when he thought about the explanation, there was a lot of sense being made to him. He then wonders if he had a Semblance this entire time since it would explain the whole pocket thing for him.

"_In a sense yes, although you are from Earth, you somehow have a semblance, or in this case multiple semblances, which in this world is unheard of. That will be a fun bridge to burn when you cross it though."_

The screen changed to show a moon that was seemingly shattered._ "Almost forgot to mention a few other details, __as you may have guessed you are no longer on Earth, you are instead on a planet called Remnant and on said planet are four major areas. Of course, I'm going to do a very simple and crude comparison to my understanding of how they are similar to Earth." _The screen changed to show a map with four different symbols on it.

"_First is Vale, lots of different cultures in a big melting pot of different people from different kingdoms, this can be compared to the United States if it makes things simpler. Second is Atlas, it's always cold and they have a big deal for military might and prowess, essentially imagine what you think stereotype Russia and Germany would be like but with robots. The third is Vacuo, gonna be honest, imagine it like Florida but more magical and less of 'Local Florida Man'. And Finally is Mistral, they got the whole 'land of the rising sun' vibe going for them, plus it's where an abundance of Faunus from what I've heard, reside at and also a source of more of the sturdy fighters."_

The screen changed again to show a man flexing with a pair of goat horns sticking out of his forehead, and a woman standing besides him with eyes that looked like those of a snake's. _"Faunus are humans but with just an extra animal trait to them, you know bunny ears, a wolf tail or a rhino horn just to name a few examples that make them different. Unfortunately, due to a war a lot of discrimination goes on for them and a group known as 'The White Fang' are fighting for their equality."_

The screen flashed off and the large T.V faded away.

"_And that about sums up the basics of Remnant for ya Nick, oh also they can all speak and understand English fluently, despite having other languages, yet English is like the universal norm for them so don't worry bout it, and yes Spanish is also common as well since as I said before, there is a lot of things quite the same between Earth and Remnant, just minus the zombies. So any questions?"_

Nick was quiet during the entire 'presentation' taking in all the information that he could and one question did pop into his head, "So Bunny girls are a real thing?"

The Guardian didn't respond, and Nick could feel actually the flat expression and eyebrow raise that was given to him from the void even when the void had no face at all.

"_Yes Nick the Bunny girls are real, this includes the tigers and catgirls as well amigo."_

Nick felt bad about the question since the Guardian sounded like he was suddenly not wanting to deal with Nick at the moment. Nick, however, heard the Guardian sigh threw his nose, if a void did have a nose, and cleared his throat.

"_Anyways Nick, onto how this goes into the plan I have for you. Now at first, my plan was to plop you down in a few months before the events really kicked off somewhere in Vale. I was gonna have you set up with your own shop so you can make cash and see how the world worked for a bit."_

Nick nodded as it did sound simple enough.

"_But I binned it since it sounded boring and too straight forward, I then decided about turning you into a woman and having you set up in Atlas, so like that they'll see your creations of weapons and swoop you up into there arms and then send you off to Beacon when the time came. I also scrapped that idea because I doubt you'd figure out what to do in a woman's body and might freak out."_

Nick shuddered a little since it was kinda true, "Thanks for not doing that one then Guardian."

"_Anytime Nick, also another plan was to make you into a Faunus..."_

The pause became a few minutes of silence with Nick becoming a little concerned and then wondering if he was just suddenly abandoned so he decided to ask "But something happened?"

To Nick's relief, there was an answer.

"_Yeah, I couldn't figure out what kind of Faunus to make you, was gonna make you a beaver complete with the tail, or even a Sheepdog Faunus too, but I decided not to and then promptly decided 'Fuck it' let's see what happens!"_

Nick was confused by this now and had to ask, "So you didn't know what to do with me so you decided to just wing it and see what happened?"

The void then let out a hearty laugh, and laughed for a few more minutes and adding to Nick's confusion.

"_Hehehe… No Nick, I actually decided to do something else. I got a bag, made a list of randomly generated words, cut the words into strips and placed them in the bag and pulled out three papers, and from those three words, I made a half-plan around those words, plus given your history it would work wonders and even benefit you. "_

At the moment Nick was at a loss that Guardian decided to do such a thing and with his life no less! But before Nick could speak a piece of paper popped up in front of him, on the paper it read the word-

"_Young, as in I made your body young, to that of an eight year old actually and let me explain."_

Another piece of paper appeared in front of Nick, this one also with a single word.

"_Past, as in you are many years away from when events will truly happen and with this vast amount of time, you'll be able to better understand and get accustomed to the world around you."_

Nick nodded and a third and final paper appeared before him and he widened his eyes at the single word on it.

"_Family, it explains the situation at the moment, and I decided it would be a good chance for you Nick to actually have a childhood that didn't involve being bounced from house to house ya know?"_

Nick was quite at this, sure he didn't have the best of childhoods growing up but when you had tattoo on your neck at the age of four, not many kinds of people would adopt that kind of kid, that's why when he met Rhonda in the very off chance when he was twelve, he was forever thankful to the woman.

Nick started to shed a tear at this but he still wondered.

"_Before you ask Nick, I'm just gonna tell you the short version of this. You died a hero in your world, saving countless lives and even inspiring a few others with your deeds. And in this world of Remnant where darkness can literally bite you in the ass, heroes are needed more than ever, so you're gonna be the checker piece in a game of chess. You won't be the MC of this story, but you be helping the ones who will end the darkness. Now I know this is all cheesy but it's true, you did your time as a hero, so now you're gonna be helping out the heroes to be ya get me?"_

Nick was still wiping away a few tears from earlier but now had resolved in his heart, it was a weird feeling still but if it's that important of a task that he's trusted with then he'll do it, besides it's how he went about his week in Los Perdidos in the first place. With this resolve, Nick stood from his chair and nodded into the void. "Whatever happens, I'll be ready for it Guardian, besides I faced an entire city of zombies, kicked a General's ass and saved those that I cared for the most. I can do this."

Nick felt himself grin and he could almost feel that the void was grinning as well.

"_That's what I like to hear Nick, and I almost forgot again."_

Two boxes once more appeared in front of Nick, one had a white symbol of a shirt on the front while the other had a white symbol of a knife on the front.

"_You'll be getting the weapon chest when you're ten years old Nick, the clothes chest you'll get when you're seventeen so look forward to them okay? And make sure to use them and help out that blonde boy."_

Nick nodded again, his heart now set on the task, but what was this about a blonde boy?

"_Also this will be the first and only time that you'll be getting help from me, Nick, this is your story after all, and where's the fun in me solving all your problems amigo?"_

Guardian then chuckled and Nick was surprised by this, but in a way, it made sense since he was being trusted and everything, weird though that he agreed to it but maybe it was because he was dead, or maybe he just wanted to help out as a hero would.

"_Well, Nick it's been fun..."_

Nick then heard footsteps from in front of him and suddenly a figure appeared in front of him, some white round white man wearing black dress shoes, black pants, a green dress shirt with a brown coat and on his head was a black flat-cap that covered his eyes somehow.

"So I guess it's best to see you off in person then amigo."

Nick was then wondering why the voice sounded familiar then it clicked. "So I'm gonna guess that you're Guardian right?"

The man before Nick held thumbs up and stopped in front of Nick, "You guessed right Nick, decided to show myself so I can lead you towards the door in person and all. So let's go, I reckon you've been asleep long enough anyhow."

The man who was now Guardian patted Nick's back and led him towards a door that seemed to have faded into existence, and once near, Guardian opened to the door and Nick was blinded by a light that streamed in.

"Best of luck Nick, make sure to be a badass out there okay amigo?"

Nick was holding a hand up to not be so blinded at the moment by the light. "Don't worry I planned on it."

As Nick stepped through the door he felt a tug on his collar, and looked at a grinning Guardian, "One more thing Nick, I hope you're fine with being the 9th kid in a family."

Before Nick could process what was said and how to respond Nick was pushed into the light and the last thing he heard was a chuckle and a door locking and he was thrown into the waking world.


	3. Ch3

=Ch.3: So that's what he was thinking.=

**A/N: Howdy again. I will have no update schedule, but I promise to carry on this story because I really want to do it and it's surprisingly relaxing.**

**Now if ya'll read the first two chapters you can more than likely tell the angle I'm going for, also because since the character was in a world of zombies doesn't mean he'll be another world full of zombies, besides that not gonna happen in**** this story**** at least I have separate plans for that. (It'll involve that anime with the zombie outbreak in Japan and the highschool kids.) Possibly.**

**Also I made a cover for the story, something simple and shoddy slapped together on my phone, also this chapter was a joy to make, influence from friends and lots of tropes that I've found amusing and decided to use, because reasons ya know. Have a good day and leave a review so I can know how to do the story well.**

**All Properties of RWBY belong to RoosterTeeth**

**All Properties of Dead Rising belong to Capcom**

**I only own my bad humor and storytelling.**

The Arc family tree dated back farther than the first great war, a long and proud history of Arcs who had changed history in some small way in form yet was never seen in the limelight. Although they were a warrior clan and quite proud of it not all were heroes, however. Some were born in simple and peaceful times and either became blacksmiths or simple mercenaries, even a few becoming thieves, but no matter what they lived to be they always were the ones to help those that they called friends and family and each one always knew of one oath that has always carried on throughout the ages.

"**An Arc never breaks a promise."**

**2 hours Earlier**

John Arc was the current head of the now Arc Clan and besides being leader, he was also a chieftain of the settlement named 'Silvertonne' and any who would see this man would agree that he had the means of a natural leader. A powerful form that spoke levels of the battles that he had partaken in and won over the years, a form that would cause an Ursa Major to feel inadequate over, a mop of golden blonde that had the early signs of silver peppered into his hair and a rugged beard rested on his face and only added to his already intimidating stature. He wore a red plaid shirt with a white undershirt beneath, a pair of rugged black pants that were held up by black suspenders and wore brown steel-toe hiking boots. Overall it gave him a look of a typical lumberjack but a lumberjack never carried a 6ft claymore that was just a foot short from John's full height of 7ft with a steel colored cuirass that had the Arc emblem engraved over the spot where the heart is. "Simple, comfy and not too much." said a one John Arc as he gave himself a look over in the standing mirror of their bedroom.

John Arc was also a loving husband and the 'Best Dad in all of Remnant' as proclaimed by his eight offsprings, and he had to agree as there was no argument there. While John was readjusting a strap on his armor he felt a slap on his rear and gave a 'manly' yelp of surprise. As he turned around to the culprit of such an audacious action he only smiled as his heart fluttered again for the thousandth time. Before him and a good foot and a half shorter than him was his loving wife and better half, Julia Arc who was looking up at him with a smirk on her face. Julia Arc was once Julia White, an orphan and a bear Faunus who had forged her own life in a manner that others may not have tried to do, and by forging her own life it meant that she chose the profession of being a Blacksmith and was a damn good one as well as she had found out. Standing at a proud 5'5 ft tall, Julia would be described as a 'Tough Cookie' by those who knew her and a 'Bad Bitch' by those who didn't, with black hair tied into a low ponytail that went past her shoulders and clear hazel eyes she would seem like your average woman, save for the two-round black ears that poked atop her head, but with her body type it led to other sayings. With years of working in a hot forge and the constant use of lifting and striking the iron while it was hot, had given her muscles that would seem intimidating at first but actually fit well with her frame and as her husband John once cheesily said, "Those muscles were forged for hugging." She was currently wearing a blacksmith's apron that had black marks in various places as signs of years of use, with a black tank-top underneath with thick gray pants that had small spark marks on them and black boots.

John then leaned down and gave Julia a kiss which Julia returned by wrapping her arms around John. "So I take it you just got done working then my little hammer?" Julia chuckled at yet another new nickname her husband had given her.

"I just finished up, as you can clearly see and smell my darling blonde giant." as she had pulled off her apron and made a small show of flexing an arm for him while having a sultry grin on her face.

John blushed a bit but held strong at the sight as she always knew how to get him going, unfortunately. Contrary to what others believed it was actually Julia who was the reason why they had eight kids honestly. John had tried to stop her after the 3rd night in a row after their wedding but that attempt had clearly failed, even their yearly anniversary would take a toll on John, and what would the masses think if they ever see their mighty Chieftain of Steeltonne that was John Arc be turned into a blushing mass of soreness and thirst by a woman who's hunger was nigh near impossible to sate no matter how valiant he tried, even on his best nights.

John then shook his head to clear any thoughts he had growing about his wife, even after 25 years of marriage you'd think he'd grow used to his wife's assertive charm but alas, his love for her was strong. "I'm taking the night watch tonight, Louie and Andrew had urgent family matters to take care of suddenly so I went ahead and offered to cover for them, it's only on the Eastern edge so it'll be for a few hours until Brian begins his rounds is all."

Julia only pouted at the news but was also glad that even though her husband held the highest position he didn't let it get to his head and was constantly helping those he was in charge of, it was one of the reasons she had fallen for him dearly, amongst other things of course. Julia then pressed herself onto the front of John, "I hear it's supposed to be another cold night tonight, just make sure to stay warm, and once you're back home and make sure to make you even warmer~"

John held a stare with his wife but then had a full blush on his face and a tinge of fear as well. His wife only became this assertive when it was either a bad workday, somebody pissed her off or oddly enough when it was a full moon, and John had to wonder sometimes if his wife was also part wolf as well as bear. John had tried to keep cool but let out a stammer, "I-I'll make sure to keep warm my sweet smith, it'll j-just be a few hours is all and it may be late when I get back so go and get some rest as soon as you can okay?"

Julia smirked and John swore he saw a glint in her eye, the glint meant trouble he just knew it. Julia chuckled then backed away from her husband and headed towards the bathroom only to stop at the entrance, "Okay papa bear, but remember..." Julia then turned to face away from John and took her tank-top off, allowing a show of her back muscles for John to see, and only to turn her head to see back at John "Mama bear will be keeping the bed nice, warm and just right until you get back~" and then walked into the bathroom while pulling the door shut behind her.

John was blushing greatly now and gave a long puff through his nose, he already felt warmer now and felt invigorated more so than before hand. He had a job to and he'll see that it is done perfectly, he had to uphold his duty as an Arc, as a Chieftain and as a husband after all. As John made his way out of the bedroom down the hall and down the stairs, he caught sight of 4 heads in the living room area. 3 black heads of hair and one head that was black with streaks of blonde in it and all were facing the large television with the screen showing some type of monster movie on it, a giant lizard shooting a laser from its mouth at a multi-headed dragon, and made himself known "You kiddos do know that it's getting quite late already right?"

3 yelps were heard and 4 sets of eyes then looked at him.

Jammy, June, Jasper and Jewel Arc, the first half of his children and whom he all loved dearly. However, before he could say anything further the sudden sight of his 12 year old June Arc climbing over the sofa and trying to tackle him had brought a deep chuckle from within him and looked into eyes that were more dark blue than his own. "Where are you going dad, you going to stab monsters again?"

John only smiled and patted the short and fluffy black and blonde covered head, June was the adorable oddball of the family, completely creative against any and all reasoning and had her father's heart and her mother's will.

"Come on June, leave dad alone, he offered to take watch for Louie and Andrew and he has work to do." Jammy Arc had started walking around the couch towards her father and little sister with a small smile. Jammy was 15 years old and the 'Informant' of the family and the first of the faunas kids, with a pixie-cut of black hair with a single streak of blonde on the front with her mother's eyes and a mind that made both her parents wonder where she got it from, what stood out the most, however, were her arms and legs that were covered in a thin layer of black bear fur.

"Yeah pops, go out there and be the badass we all know you are!" said Jewel Arc with a pumped and bandaged fist as a single blue and hazel eye met his own. The oldest of his children at age 17 was Jewel Arc who is a fighter and took after her dear old dad but who's sense of justice was more 'loose' as her mother had put it. Her hair was shaved on one side of her head but left the rest of her hair short and a bit 'wild' as she put it. Honestly, John just thinks she's still in her rebellious phase.

"Good luck dad." Said the soft voice of Jasper Arc, his 13 year old daughter was giving him a thumbs up. The second faunas child with pure black short hair and eyes as blue as his own stared at him from behind a pair of glasses, her small bear ears atop her head wiggled slightly. Jasper was a bookworm of the family and partner in crime to Jammy Arc, even at her young age she honestly knew more info about the world than John himself had traveled it.

John only chuckled at the varied responses of his daughters, "Now girls, I know it's the weekend but that doesn't mean you have to stay up late again alright and that reminds me where are the others?"

Jewel responded with while raising a finger with each answer, "Jazz and Jess are asleep after making a new chapter for their stories, Jo is busy doing computer things and little Jaune is reading those new 'Mad King' comics you got for his birthday yesterday."

"Ah, well that does sound like them, anywho I'll be back in a few hours, and if you girls are still awake or planning on it we still got the leftover pizza from yesterday in the fridge. Any problems come up just get your mother, love you all." John then walked past them all and out the door while grabbing his Claymore and putting on his coat he set at the entrance of the doorway, but before he left he called out, "And before I forget, Jammy is in charge if your mother is sleeping, Love y'all!" and as John existed the door he heard an "Oh that's totally not fair!" more than likely from Jewel and set started heading towards the entrance of town.

"Gordon, open the Gates!" John yelled out to the guard at the gate, the guard was a husky looking and bald Alligator faunas that had the traits of the tail and teeth and like all guards of Steeltonne wore mostly durable leather armor and steel chest pieces over their average clothes, a small leaf engraving on the breast to show they were the guards. Gordon gave a nod and gave a silent order to his fellow guard to start opening the gate. "Be careful out there boss, Peterson reported from the West about a few howls, possibly a small pack maybe."

John passed Gordon and gave a pat on his shoulder, "Keep alert in that area then, gonna cover for Louie and Andrew myself, speaking of how are they doing?"

Gordon grinned, "Good news from both of them boss, Andrew is now a father of two healthy baby girls and Louie said that his Uncle is fully recovering with only a sprained ankle after the fall he took earlier today!"

This was all part of a lesson that John had hammered into his head when his grandpa, a one Helios Arc, was still alive, the lesson was that no matter your strength, power or position you hold, always try to know everyone that are under you. John didn't understand when he was 6 years old at the time but now he was glad for it since the people he was in charge of saw him as a leader and friend whom they will gladly trust. Also that his grandpa also went on about 'The Arc Charm' that all the Arc men had, but that was an entirely different matter.

John then smiled at both the news and memory, "Sounds like some grand news Gordon, I'll be heading off now and tell Brian that when he shows up to head towards the East forest edge, he'll be my relief when the time comes."

Gordon nodded once more "Good luck again boss." and once John passed through the gates Gordon went and closed them.

**1 Hour Later**

John had once again found his mind wondering on about different topics, some examples being what the title of the movie his kids were watching when he left, if he was able to train his only son to be an Arc warrior, and if it was possible to actually be able to have another son. Nothing was wrong with the fact that he had seven lovely daughters, but as a tradition for the Arcs there was always two sons to each family, since only a son could become head of the Arc clan and the reason for two sons was both simple and complicated for many reasons. One such reason was in the event one son was not able to be a hero they could still help in other manners, just how history had followed in their family, one son would be raised as a warrior while the other learned the ways of diplomacy or hunting and being a hero in their own way. Sometimes even both sons had proved to be mighty heroes and battles told of literal brothers in arms standing over their foes. Or if a son fell upon a darker path, then in a sick twist of fate had become the enemy of their own brother.

John only sighed at such thoughts, John himself was the eldest and had a brother named Johanas who was a warrior as well, but took the life of a pastry chef in the more cushier parts of Mistral. John also knew his only son Jaune was still young, and if he was being honest with himself, didn't want him to become a warrior, he just wanted all of his children to lead a normal life, or as normal one can live in this world of Grimm, but going against many generations of a tradition would bring shame upon him and his family and he didn't want that either… Just one of the cons of being an Arc he guessed.

John then blushed in the sudden remembrance of his wife's words before he had left that evening. Maybe this will be a chance to have a second son?

John shook his head clear and mumbled to himself, "That's what I said the last three times and it only took replacing the bed frame five separate times." at least the pros outweighed the cons in some instances.

John sighed once more and looked up toward the night sky, the shattered moon showing brightly and the winds kicking up slightly.

"Barely been an hour and already I'm talking to myself." chuckled John to himself.

John then continued walking around the Eastern edge of the forest, usually taking watch had more men for the job and often meant going deeper into the forest itself, but with the changing of months Grimm behavior changed as well. As it was the beginning of the month as well as the season, going into the forest, especially at night, would be deemed dangerous so instead, a simple going back and forth along the edge of the forest would suffice for the time being as a more precautionary way of taking watch.

This process continued on for a solid forty minutes, with only one encounter with a Beowolf that was quickly dispatched with a swipe with John's Claymore. A few more minutes passed as he continued his walk until he heard a yell from within the forest "Help me somebody please, anybody!"

John was unsure if he did actually hear a yell or if it was just a trick of his mind but he still walked forward to where he last heard it and reached a pathway that leads into the forest. As he looked into the pathway he caught sight of a pair of glowing red eyes and the sounds of somebody running towards him. Thankfully the moon was bright enough that he was able to make out the small shape of a child as it runs into him.

"OOF!" the child went and stumbling back and landing on his bottom, he held onto his face from the collision.

John was confused, why was a child in the middle of a forest, and naked no less!? "Were you the one yelling in the woods boy?"

Then John heard a growling sound from the owner of the red glowing eyes, and guessed this beast had chased this poor child all the way here. That thought clicked something in John, as a father of eight he was very protective of his children, and for some reason seeing the child before him had reminded him of Jaune in a strange way.

John then pulled out his Claymore and started walking towards the beast, but as he did he saw the boy in front of him cower in fear from him, this only made John upset "Stay behind me lad."

The boy then looked at him as he headed towards the beast, as John got closer he saw that it was an Ursa, just barely past being since the older ones usually avoided being this close to Steeltonne. As he neared the Ursa it stood up adding to its height, 'Well it's a tad bigger than I expected at least.'

The Ursa then swiped at John who turned side-ways to avoid the hit and in the same motion brought his Claymore up and down onto the Ursa's arm severing it. 'Still might slow though.'

The Ursa then roared in rage but was instantly silenced as John stepped into the Ursa's personal space and speared its head through its jaw and out the top of the skull. 'Wonder if there's still that three meat and cheese pizza in the fridge, that was so good.'

John then felt the dead weight of the Ursa and slid the blade out of its head and letting the body slump to the ground, for no particular reason he felt the urge to kick. "HA HA! Damn Ursas thinking they can stop me, if dozen of you can't stop me what makes you think only one of you can?" John then sated that urge to kick as the sound of a **'THWAP'** was heard on the Ursa's head. Soon after the body started to turn into that black smoke and start to disappear.

"Hm, right then, you okay over there boy, still breathing I hope as well?" Hefting the Claymore onto his shoulder he walked up to the boy who he now saw had his mouth open, and also noticed the moth go into the boy's mouth. 'Oh, well as long as he-' the boy closed his mouth and a 'crunch' was heard 'Well, nevermind then.'

"Ah! **pffft~** I'm **ptoo~ **I'm alright… blegh" the child was now spitting out the bug he just involuntarily snacked on.

John tilted his head at the boy and wondered 'Well lat least I know he can speak at least.' "HA! Good to hear boy, specially with your little Midnight streaking going on as well, surprised as well since you seem to be my own son's age, but young folks today I guess."

The boy understandably gave John a confused as if he didn't know about his current attire, or at least lack thereof since a few seconds for the thought to register as the boy yelped and quickly covered himself up.

Before John could ask how the boy was in his current situation the boy spoke up, "I just woke up in the middle of the forest already naked and I actually don't remember how I got here, like at all… sir."

John was now in thought with a hand on his chin now and decided to ask a simple question for the boy, "And how exactly did you end up here then, near the settlement that is."

The boy then only shrugged and replied, "The first thing I saw when I woke up were red eyes, and I just started running in one direction, I had no idea where I was going and I didn't like the idea of becoming a midnight snack for a… Ursa right?"

That made sense, course if the boy was incredibly lucky since any other direction lead through miles of forest, with the nearest neighboring town being a good two days travel on foot. John found it odd that the boy was unsure of the name of the Grimm that was just slain in front of him, odd. "Yeah, it's like you haven't seen a Grimm before boy?"

The boy's response was simple, "What's a Grimm?'

This threw John off his thoughts since everybody and their pets knew of Grimm or at least some form of them since they were essentially the greatest threat in all of Remnant! But how doe-

**ACHOO!**

The boy let out a sneeze due to a cold breeze.

John had completely forgotten the glaring fact in front of him, "Oh Shite, right you're naked and it's cold!" internally John was panicking 'Think John, think, oh right my coat!'

John proceeded to take off his coat that he was wearing and placed it on the boy who immediately had a face of bliss and thanks to being covered from the cold finally. It honestly did remind John of his own boy Jaune, and with that thought John kneeled down and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Okay lad, do you at least remember your name?"

The boy nodded, "My name is Nick Ramos."

John had a brief thought, 'That sounds Vacuoan, how did you end up here Nick?' John then gave a reassuring smile to Nick, "Right then Nick, my name is John Arc… Ah, you know where your family is then?"

John then saw Nick's face become a bit distraught and then he sniffed, "I don't know what happened to them."

John cursed himself a bit since it may be likely that the boy in front of him was a survivor of an attack from the Grimm, it at least gave a kernel of an explanation for Nick's situation, John was then surprised when the boy suddenly slumped forwards and was able to catch him. "Whoa boy, are you alright?"

Nick only mumbled a barely audible "So… tired..."

John then hummed to himself, 'The boy has been through a lot, he should counting his blessings that he was able to get to safety, let alone run from an Ursa for Brothers know how long.' John then picked the boy and made a decision, He was taking him home.

As John started walking he heard Nick mumble a bit but wasn't able to hear him, John only chuckled inwardly, "Alright then Nick, just you rest up now, yer safe and you'll be even safer when we get home. Might want to add that my wife might take a liking to you lad, heck even my kids might like you as well."

John then heard the boy in his arms begin to snore, 'This might be a bad idea in the grand scheme of things, but they always paid off in the end anyways. Besides, I'm not the only one who wanted another son either.' John then chuckled to himself, "I wonder if they'll be okay with the idea of a new brother?"

As John continued walking back home he was met half-way by Louie and Andrew who John was taking watch for. Before they asked John what he was carrying he informed him it was a young boy that he saved in the forest and was taking the boy to the local doctor. Louie and Andrew nodded at their boss and said their farewells and thanks as they headed off to complete their watch.

John soon got to the wooden gate and it was opened when one of the gate guards on the wall gave a heads up to Gordon that 'the boss was coming back and he's got something in his arms.' Gordon the asked the question, "What happened out their boss what did you find?"

John then retold what he had told both Louie and Andrew, and what Nick had told John as well. Gordon nodded "So the boy is more than likely an orphan then, Brothers be damned." Gordon sneered the last part. Grimm was the main cause of once huge families being wiped in a flurry of blood or darkness, but those who did survive were either traumatized beyond hope, given up on life, or had sworn bloody vengeance upon the beasts only to lead themselves to an even quicker demise. A sad story that was more commonly told than it should've been.

"I'm taking the boy to Doc Lun right now if she is awake that is, no idea how Nick lasted as long especially that deep in the forest." John added.

Gordon nodded once more, "Alright boss, you just take care of the kid, me and boys here will continue or duty. Have a goodnight boss."

John hummed "You as well Gordon." and headed off to Doc Lun's home.

Doctor Mylian Lun was born and raised in Steeltonne, a tanned woman with a head of frazzled red hair that was graying from the top-down, strange Cyan eyes and she wore a self-made labcoat with a dirtied gray dress shirt and with black slacks and red sandals, but wasn't technically a doctor in the common sense, especially when most of her medicine's and cures were just copies of those she discovered in her own future. You see Mylian is a civilian with a Semblance, and that semblance allows for her to look into the future of others if they allow her to do so, sort of like allowing someone into your home. She made the mistake however of seeing her own future and had gone slightly insane. In this insanity she began to make medicines and cures, knowledge of health and science was suddenly learned and practiced with proficiency and effectiveness. Nobody knows what Mylian had seen to cause her sanity, but they trusted her nonetheless since she used her semblance to look into the future of her patients in order to see how they were treated or cured if possible. She was Steeltonne's very own Mad Doctor.

John finally reached Doc Lun's home and was about to knock when the door suddenly opened and John was staring at the small smile of Doc Lun, before John could say anything however, "Just bring Nick inside John, I can't do a checkup on him out here, I mean I could but inside will be much easier and warmer, yes no? I'll take it as a yes so come in."

John nodded and entered the good doctor's home, but turned sideways as to avoid hitting Nick's head on the door frame. The inside looked like an overage home, but if a botanist decided to wail on a filing cabinet since the number of plants to paper ratio was impressively everywhere save for the kitchen area and sitting arrangements. John was then going to tell the situation at the moment before Lun turned around and held up a finger along with a brow, "John, I already know of what's going on remember? I can see my own future after all and I've heard your story twice now so let's not make it a charm at this point, and I'll tell you what you need to know once we're in my office so come along still." John sighed to himself, he forgot he Lun was when it came to patients, or animals, or anything living for that matter.

John then followed Lun further into her home down a small hallway, at the end was a door that Lun held open for him, what was odd about the room, once he entered, was that it looked like a standard doctor's office like the one he had gone to Vale for his first kid's checkup, except for the literal wall of different medicinal plants growing, and it kinda creeped him out a little.

"No need to be creeped out by it John, it's all natural and it heals the body quite nicely, now go ahead and lay Nick on the examination bed please?" Lun piped up, John hadn't said anything but maybe his near future self did say something.

John did as he was asked and laying the still sleeping Nick onto the bed and as he backed away Lun was already grabbing different plants off the wall and putting them into a mortar & pestle, all while speaking, "Nick will be fine, he's just exhausted, plus like your son he's going to have a superb amount of Aura and is bound for many great things, oh but do be careful though." She paused to scratch her chin in thought and plucked another leaf. "He is quite the creative person, but he will be a good influence on both your family and son, and with your guidance as well, they will be a powerhouse especially with Nick's semblance to help out Jaune, Oh I'm so excited!" Lun gave a little hop in joy and began to grind the leaves together furiously.

John was understandably confused by this, and if he was hearing right, he just essentially heard a fortune-telling from a woman who can see the future… Weird, but still, guess that plan he has goes well?

Lun finished her herbal grinding and poured the herbal paste into a small bag and tossed the bag to John who caught it. "Inside that bag is a blend for tea, it makes two cups. Ice the tea down then drink it in one go okay?"

John then looked at the bag and then towards Lun, "So this will help Nick then?"

Lun snorted a laugh, "Oh lords no, Nick is fine all he needs is a good nights rest plus a good meal when he wakes up, he's just exhausted is all. But that bag is for you John and the next few nights."

John was about to speak when he saw Lun's grin, it would've made the Chesire cat proud, and John then recalled what his wife had said a few hours ago, and then blushed.

Lun however nodded when he saw realization dawn upon John, "You end crawling here to my office with extreme exhaustion and soreness, I just decided to give you this to even the odds is all, and remember if it lasts more than four hours then you only call to give me your thanks." Lun gave John a head tilt and smile as if she just read off a medical commercial.

John was now blushing and was about to ask Lun how she would know that but then he remembered, and both said at the same time, "Can see the future."

John cleared his throat, "I should get going then..."

John then thanked Lun and picked Nick up who was snoring away still. As he left through the door, Lun still had a smile on her face and had a thought as well, 'I so look forward to seeing that box that Nick has in person, these visions do it no justice, Oh that reminds me~' Lun pulled out a notebook and started adding dates to the book, each date had a time, name, injury and how it was healed. She was adding three entries for two names. "One month from now, Jaune Arc, steam burn from popcorn bag, healing salve. The second entry being the Arc Brothers, two years from now, frozen solid, placed in front of industrial heater for two hours and given hot chocolate. Finally, Nick 'Arc' Ramos, three years from now, bit off the tip of his tongue, weapon knock-back, pain killer (self-made)." Lun hummed happily to herself. "So many great things in store for those two, it's gonna be so much fun!"

John was able to hear Lun's laugh from outside her home, he decided best just to head on home… Maybe things will make sense there at least, right?

John was standing in the living room with the rest of his family now, he had called a family meeting, all though a few of his kids were groggy, they had taken the news differently, vastly different from what he originally thought they were gonna be like.

A few minutes before however, as soon as his first daughter Jewel had seen him walk in through the door the news about what he brought home was instant. The series of questions were abundant but he did hear a something said from each of his first four kids.

"Did you save this kid from some bandits or something pops?" asked Jewel.

"Perhaps it was a rescue from Grimm, the boy seems exhausted." exclaimed Jammy.

"Maybe dad is gonna train him to be the best warrior ever!" shouted June with glee.

"The boy is safe now." said Jasper.

John had placed Nick down on a living room sofa for the time being and raised a hand up, "I'll explain everything in a bit but for now, Jewel go get Jo, Jess, Jazz and Jaune and bring them down here, please? I'll go get your mother, and Jammy, don't examine Nick okay?"

Jammy flinched from being so easily caught, and June only giggled.

John then walked upstairs and soon found himself in front of his bedroom door and noticed a faint light coming through the bottom of the door, he braced his nerves, and opened the door up and was thankful to see his wife in bed covered in bedsheets and browsing through her scroll, she heard the door and gave John a warm smile.

Although the glint in her eye told John that smile something else, "Julia, we need to talk downstairs, it's important."

The mood switch was an immediate one, John only ever called his wife by her first name when it was something of great importance, thankfully as far as she was counting that only happened three times.

Julia only nodded, put away her scroll and got up out of bed, she did however saw the very red blush of her husband John, she had decided to surprise her husband by wearing something called 'Buruma Shorts' which were a craze in certain parts of Mistral and showed off her toned legs more and had used two band-aids to cover only the bare amount of her chest. John, still red faced had left the room so Julia could change and sighed heavily, he really wished she didn't read those weird comics from Vacou and Mistral anymore, he was unfortunate enough to see her browser history a few times.

John was then back down the stairs a few minutes later and saw the rest of his kids now sitting in the living room, save for Jewel and June who were currently in the kitchen eating pizza.

He saw his twin daughters Jess and Jazz, sitting up groggily and every so often catching themselves from passing out again. Jazz is the older of the twins by 2 minutes at the age of 11, with a short black hair that faded to blonde at the bottom and blue eyes, always was outspoken but didn't have a 'filter' between her thoughts and her mouth which often led to either accidental insults or honest words of care.

Jess is the youngest of the twins by 2 minutes, with long blonde hair that faded to black at the bottom with hazel eyes and wore glasses, she is the opposite of her twin and hardly speaks, but always makes up for it by always listening, even listening to things she isn't supposed to hear as John as had told her in the past, but always showed care for those who let her listen. The twins were both obsessed with stories and legends, unlike Jasper who read everything, the twins only read stories that dealt with the fanciful and legendary and have even started to make a story of a hero by having it be told in the form of journal entries from the hero's point of view.

John chuckled at the struggle to stay awake by his twin girls, and he saw Jo, trying to 'help' them by poking their foreheads each time they began to fall over too much.

Jo shouldn't be left with anything electronic while unsupervised since she had a skill for dismantling and reassembling anything she could get, electronics were her favorites because she, 'liked the way they flash when the wires got mixed.' Jo is 10 years old, with a braided blonde ponytail with one blue eye and one hazel eye. John often blames himself for Jo's interest ever since she saw him take apart and repair a broken scroll when the screen cracked, but at least it was something she was fond about.

John then felt a hand on his back and saw Julia now leaning on him, he was thankful she was now wearing a black t-shirt and gray pajama bottoms.

John looked into the living room once more, Nick was still asleep on the sofa with John's coat still covering him, Jewel and June were in the kitchen still eating, Jo was still poking the foreheads of Jess and Jazz while kneeling in front of them to keep them awake where they sat, Jasper was sat beside and silently staring at Jammy who was currently looking down with a red face for some reason, and Jaune was sitting crisscross on the sofa in his blue onesie with a determined look on his face, or as determined of a face a drowsy 8 year old can make anyway.

John cleared his throat and 8 sets of eyes looked at him, "Okay kiddos, as you all can see I brought home another kid with me, but hear me out first alright?" John the told of the events that had happened a few hours ago, about how he heard Nick yelling in the forest and killing the Ursa that had chased Nick while he was naked him and taking him to Doc Lun's, but didn't mention the words that the good doctor had spoken of course. Explaining everything only took a few minutes overall thankfully. All of his kids then looked at Nick, except for Jammy who got more red when it was mentioned about the boy's state of dress.

It was June who asked the first question, "So we have a new brother now?"

All of his kids looked at John who was now scratching his chin, "That was what I was about to say actually, I've decided to raise him as an Arc for the time being until we can find his family." John then thought to himself 'If they're alive hopefully.' John shook his head and continued on "The boy I found is named Nick Ramos, and I was hoping everyone would be okay with having another brother for the time being..."

The room was silent for a bit but each child had a different expression, Jewel was grinning, June was bouncing in her seat at the kitchen table, Jess and Jazz were beginning to nod off again, Jammy was looking impassive, Jasper was holding a thumbs up, Jo was nodding her head now and Jaune seemed excited at the idea.

It was once again June who broke the silence and with raised hands shouted, "Dad is gonna train him to be the best warrior ever!" and flurry of different responses was heard.

"That is how you are pops, it wouldn't make sense if you didn't." said Jewel

"From how you told the story father, your plan was already seen." noted Jammy

"Sounds good." added Jasper.

"That's nice..." yawned Jess and Jazz.

"He seems good with machines." oddly exclaimed Jo.

John was honestly surprised by the responses from his daughters, but one child hadn't said anything yet, his only son Jaune Arc, who had a concentrated expression now and had decided to ask his son, "What do you think about that idea then Jaune?"

Jaune seemed to have been busy thinking about something and was snapped out of his thoughts as he looked at his father, he had a serious look to John and asked him, "So does this mean you're going to train me to be a huntsman dad?"

John only nodded and had wondered when Jaune was going to ask such a question, "Yes my son, I will train you, but also I'll train Nick as well, since both of you are my sons, but things will be done differently, and a week from now okay?"

John then saw his son Jaune have the biggest smile possible on his face, and was surprised when Jaune ran from his spot on the sofa and tried to tackle the 7ft tall man in a hug, but merely clinged on to him like a small blue monkey, all while saying "ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyousomuchyourethebestdadeverIloveyousomuch!"

His daughters merely smiled and laughed at their brother's excitement.

Jaune then let go of his father and went back to his spot on the sofa while having a huge grin.

John then clapped and cleared his throat, "Well that went better than I hoped honestly, so kiddos, go ahead and go to bed alright, it's already late enough so a take a note from Nick there." John then pointed at a still passed out Nick who was snoring away now. "And get some rest, it's Saturday tomorrow, or uh… It's Saturday right now, so goodnight and love all of y'all."

The response was a mix of groans and sleepy 'Okays' and the living room slowly emptied with each child getting a hug and a kiss goodnight from both their mom and pops.

Before John retired for the night himself he went upstairs to his bedroom and grabbed a spare pillow, blankets, and a pair of black shorts for Nick. Once back in the living room, he put the pillow underneath Nick's head and covered him with blankets and folded the black shorts on top of the sofa with a sticky note on it.

Once all was done, John walked to his wife who had been waiting in the living room for him and she had a certain 'look' on her face. "Sooo… I guess we have another son then huh my sweetie bear?"

Julia crossed her arms and raised a brow towards John, "A few things for you my golden bear, first is I'm glad that you saved this boy and that the children are okay with the idea of having a new brother, even I'm happy about it honestly too." John then saw a glint in her eye again and she pointed a finger at him, "Second is that I love you dearly but you forgot one of the main steps of having another child, a very… physical step, if you catch my meaning which I very much know you do."

John only gulped in response with a slow blush appearing on his face and sudden worry as he recalled the bag that Doc Lun had given him earlier… "So will I be ok- Oh!"

Julia suddenly pulled down John by his collar to her height, making him bend over and face to face with his wife, John now was gazing deep into Julia's eyes. He suddenly felt very vulnerable, "Listen here, my Honeyed Giant, Mama Bear is going to make sure she gets her porridge and she's very hungry as well, so be ready for tomorrow night since tonight will be the only chance to rest, I promise you that."

Julia then gave John a kiss on the cheek, leaving John still bent over in worry. He then stood rigid when he felt a hard smack on his rear, and a chuckle being heard from Julia as she walked away.

John sighed and allowed himself to clear his head for a few minutes, replaying the events in his head and gave a chuckle himself and looked at the sleeping Nick, "Well, I know this isn't a gamble but if what Doc said is true, then I'll make sure both you and Jaune are the most badass warriors' Remnant has seen… I promise you both and **an Arc never breaks a promise.**"

John then turned around to head upstairs to bed and turning the lights of the living room and kitchen off, tomorrow will indeed be an interesting day.

**A/N: Yowza, is that even a real word by the way?**

**Also, last time I'm influenced by friends to ask what kind of wife to make.**

**Lots of words if you couldn't tell, at least a lot for me anyway. I used the "Badass Warrior Man who is a family man and who's smaller wife is the beast of the relationship." Because those always make me chuckle. Plus a few others, with each of the daughters having some kind of 'theme' to em. **

**A bit of warning, Nick and Jaune will be changing in character since they'll be growing as brothers, so that "OOC", Out Of Character for those about to Google like I did, will slightly be happening, only slightly I think, or maybe not, I don't know yet.**

**The next chapter will involve more crude humor and Nick adjusting to suddenly having 8 other siblings and getting used to the fact that the fluffy ears are real and why he can't touch them without permission. Until then, have a good time and be wonderful. **


	4. Chapter 4

=Ch.4: The Waking World & Family =

**A/N: So this chapter is longer as well, also the glaring fact that I have NO writing style since that's still a learning process as I go especially if you've read the previous chapters, but bear with me please as I am taking notes as I go. Also, I use that program called Grammarly to help me out because I double word a lot as I found out, anywho here's the new chapter, longer than the rest, but they will be getting to Beacon soon, with any luck anyhow. Thank you for your time and please leave a review so I can learn what I need to fix and make better.**

**(~)**

Nick had awoken from his sleep to the sounds of soft laughter, he opened his eyes as light flooded in and his vision began to re-focus, he then saw a wooden ceiling.

Nick then decided to feel his immediate surroundings, he felt something soft beneath him and turned his head to the left, his view was then filled with a brown, almost shiny cloth with the right light. So he was on a couch if he was guessing.

Nick then rose up slowly and resting on his elbows now, he was surprised to see a young girl with black and blue eyes staring back at him from behind a pair of glasses and holding a book.

"Hey, you. You're finally awake." said the girl in front of him.

It took a few moments for things to finally settle and register within Nick's mind, thankfully Nick had been in a situation like this before back in Los Perdidos so he asked the tried and true question to ask.

"Sorry, but where am I and who are you?" Nick asked.

The girl in front of him hummed and finally replied, "I am Jasper Arc, and you are in the Arc household, my father brought you home after finding you earlier this morning."

Nick tilted his head slightly at the answer but then recalled what had happened, him being chased by that bear thing, being cold and naked, and then being saved by that big dude with the sword… What was his name again?

Nick just decided to ask, "The man who saved me, was his name 'John' by any chance? I have to thank him."

Jasper nodded, "That is my father, and hearing that you are awake will be relief upon him, but get dressed first please, he told us how he found you and has given you something to wear at the moment." Jasper then motioned to a pair of black shorts and a blue shirt that was on the coffee table in front of them.

Nick took a few seconds to understand what was said, he then picked up the blankets that he just realized were on him and turned a shade of red out of understandable embarrassment. Nick was now berating himself, 'Way to go, Nick, not only did this guy save you but your naked and having a chat with his own kid while in the buff!'

Thankfully for Nick, Jasper was an observant girl and handed Nick the clothes and added, "These are for you brother, hope they will fit for the time being." Nick was snapped out of his thoughts and was thankful to Jasper, who decided to sit on a separate sofa and was continuing back to her book.

Nick was feeling a bit uncomfortable about his predicament, but he supposed walking around with nothing but a blanket to cover him might've been more trouble than it was worth, plus the blanket itself was huge! At least he had some kind of privacy at least, immediately ducking underneath the blanket he looked at the clothes and saw a yellow note on top of it, the message was as follows.

_'Nick, these shorts might be a bit big but they should do the job covering you.' -John_

and below that in different handwriting,

_'Hey Nick here are some clothes that will actually fit you, they're from Jaune.' - Julia_

Nick then looked back at the clothes and made mental note to thank those two and began slipping on the pair of shorts, thankful that they were the type that had a tie-able string on them, and putting on the shirt that he found to have a small bunny face on a shirt pocket.

After getting dressed under the sheets and pulled them off and stood from the sofa.

Only to immediately get tackled back onto the sofa and then lifted by some unknown blur of force, Nick tried to move but couldn't, his arms were bound to his side and he was blinded by a flurry of black and yellow, attempting to spit out the bits that got into his mouth in the struggle.

"LITTLE BROTHER IS AWAKE NOW!" shouted the thing currently grabbing Nick, its hold growing stronger by the second.

'Wait… This was a pers-' **CRACK**

"That isn't supposed to make that noise!" Nick wheezed out worriedly.

Suddenly another woman's voice was heard from behind Nick, "June, No! Put your brother down at once young lady!"

"Ok mama!" was the happy reply of June as she released Nick and left him slumped on the sofa to catch the breath that was squeezed out of him.

"Jeez… June go get your father and tell him Nick is awake okay sweetie?" Nick saw June give a salute to the voice behind Nick and hopped over the sofa and through a door and heard a 'slam' not even a minute later.

Nick, however, was still trying to regain his breathing and had looked up to see an older woman looking down at him, "And of course she goes and does something else entirely. Sorry bout that Nick, she's just excited is all about what's going on so now wake up sleepy butt, food is almost ready and I bet you're just starving."

Nick was going to ask what that news was exactly but a loud growl from his stomach was heard, causing Jasper to lower her book and look at him and earning a chuckle from the older woman, and a face of embarrassment from Nick.

The older woman still chuckled, "I'll take that as a yes then, well get ready, you'll be meeting the rest of the family soon anyhow." and she headed away from Nick's view.

Nick finally got up from the sofa and had a look around, at which Jasper gave Nick a small peace sign when he glanced over her, and he had assumed this was the living room. It was quite spacious, white walls, a few shelves that held various portraits of other people on them, four separate large sofas arranged in a 'U' shape with a sizable coffee table in the middle of it and a large TV screen hanging on the wall allowing ample view from any sitting position.

"It all feels so cozy." Nick then looked at the sofa he was sleeping on, a pillow and blanket were on it still. 'At least I know how comfy they are now, but how long was I asleep for anyhow?'

He then looked around the room and wasn't able to see a clock anywhere in the room.

"Jeez bro, and here I thought I was the only one that liked to sleep late." chuckled another new voice.

Nick then turned and saw another girl walk into the living room, noticing she had bandages wrapped around a hand, a part of her head was shaved on one side and what stood out the most where her eyes, with one blue and one, he guessed looked light brownish.

The girl must've seen Nick staring at her because she gave a click of her tongue and gave a thumbs-up, "Lemme guess champ, it's the hair, right? Don't worry you're not the only one who stares at it, anyways follow me, we bout to munch hard right now." the girl then left and before Nick could follow she poked her head out from the doorway, "Oh, also the name is Jewel and I guess you already met Jasper, and June from the sound of her yelling, speaking of which, come on Jasper it's chow time." and the now named Jewel then left, he then saw Jasper stand and head towards the door and made a small 'follow' motion to Nick.

Well, hey free food.

(~)

It wasn't difficult to not smell the aroma of baking bread wafting from the kitchen as Nick was following Jasper across the hallway, the kitchen entrance was just a few feet separate from the living room. Nick saw Jasper walk in through the door and what he saw was, confusing for him. A large round wooden table that could easily seat twelve was in the middle of the kitchen. A large sink, large oven, and large stovetop were lined on the right side of the room itself, and wooden kitchen cabinets were above the stove and sink. He saw Jewel was setting up the table with plates for each chair, around eleven plates in total.

Nick felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see the very large man John standing there, how the Hell did he not hear him walking on the wooden floor, or how'd he miss the pink apron that had the words 'Champion Chef' in red letters on it? "HAHA! Good to see you're up and about now Nick, was a bit worried honestly but the doc did say you just needed rest, so now for the next part of the Doctor's orders which is a good meal!" John then gave a huge smile and pat on Nick's head, who then backed away and bowed?

"Sir, I just wanted to say thank you for saving me and thank you for the clothes, I don't know how to repay you though!" said Nick in utter honesty.

John had his mouth open, such a young boy wanting to repay the duty of saving his life, how absurd! Of course, maybe things were different for where Nick came from, John decided to ask that later and decided on something else, "Well Nick, if you do plan on repaying me then go over there and take a seat at the table."

Nick only nodded, and made his way to one of the many open seats available and passing by Jewel who gave him a grin.

'Weird.' Nick had thought to himself, in honesty he was still taking in the events that occurred to him, he may have seemed fine on the outside but in the span of some hours he was chased by a monster, saved, passed out and learned that he was essentially "Reincarnated" into a new world and meant to help some people be the main heroes of a story because he had "Already completed his story", which Nick was still having trouble figuring out why h-

Nick was poked in the face by Jewel who had finished setting up the table and sat next to him, "You okay little bro? You're not broken are you because I don't think even Jo can fix you."

"Gah! What? Yeah, I'm fine, I think… Wait what's going on?" Nick had asked

Jewel chuckled "It's dinner time bro, and today is Saturday so it pops turn to cook this time!" Nick saw her rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

**THUNK**

A large yellow pot was suddenly placed onto the table with said holder of the pot being John, "You're in luck, today is a simple meal of mashed potatoes." He patted the top of the pot with a grin, "Bread rolls and oven-baked pork ribs." John then pointed to the large oven.

Nick had to admit it sounded tasty but before he could voice his thoughts he suddenly felt like he was in danger, this feeling was correct as he was suddenly getting choked from behind by a hug as a familiar fluff of black and yellow came into view once more, "ITS GONNA BE SO GOOD~!" said the happy June.

Thankfully for Nick, he felt the pressure loosen immediately and saw John had pried off June and was holding her in the way a person would hold a cat from the scruff of their neck, all the while she had a pout and was reaching out to Nick to administer more hugs.

"June, you're scaring Nick and almost killing him as well. Also, remember that both your mother and I have reminded you to not do 'Death Hugz' at the table." John said sternly.

June then looked at Nick and then looked down in sadness and mumbled an "Okay."

Nick then felt sad from seeing June's face but felt himself talking without thinking, "Oh no no no, it's fine I don't mind I was just surprised is all, I don't mind if she hugs me at the table." he was then confused as he had essentially felt forced to say those words.

Nick then saw June's face light up once more with a smile, but John had only raised an eyebrow, "Young lady, that also means no forcing words into other people's mouths as well with your semblance." June gave a blushed 'hmmph' at being caught and was plopped down in an empty seat across from Jewel.

John nodded in the satisfaction that June would be in place for now and left the kitchen to go get the rest of his kids all while shouting a hearty "Supper Time!"

Nick had to cover his ears at the loud and powerful voice and after was wondering why exactly he suddenly felt like a ventriloquist dummy, but after seeing that exchange his mind clicked. A quick nudge from his left and he saw Jewel chuckling at him.

"Don't worry Nick, she's just really happy is all, it is her one emotion too I think and her Semblance is something that pops likes to call 'Voice Throwing' which lets her have control of what people say if they let their mind wander. I still don't understand it myself but she hasn't done anything bad so far at least. Besides most of us have some kind of semblance as well."

Nick squinted "So you all have powers then?"

A chair dragging to his left and a new face had appeared, another girl with a black pixie cut hair and a single portion of blonde was staring at Nick with Hazel eyes, almost felt like they were examining him and to be honest, Nick felt… exposed.

"Not powers per se, but an ability that's a manifestation of one's Aura and many believe it to be connected to how one's personality is based off, although this theory is both proven false and true on many occasions." Pixie cut had stated.

"Uhhh."

"Oh sorry, my name is Jammy Arc, second oldest of the Arc sisters. Jewel Arc is the eldest of us." Jammy nodded.

"Uh, hello, My name is Nick Ramos." Nick then held out a hand

Jammy looked at Nick's hand then at Nick himself, giggled and gave Nick a firm handshake, "A pleasure to meet you, brother."

Nick had another new thought in his head 'Why do they keep calling me brother, I'd at least remember having this many sis-'

Woah! Her arms are hairy!

"You are observant Nick," Jammy stated.

Nick doubted that since he shook her hand without noticing the very _fuzziness_ of her arms initially, now that he looked at them, they did seem soft an-

**Smack**

Nick flinched and rubbed his forehead, what the heck hit him?

"I did Nick, you were very vocal about my arms '_fuzziness_' as you stated clearly." said a slightly embarrassed Jammy, who had just flicked Nick's forehead.

Whoops.

Behind Nick he heard attempts of a suppressed laughing from Jewel and some chuckling from June, Nick turned to face forward in his chair and only saw Jasper giving another peace sign with a small smile.

The woman from earlier had walked into the kitchen after John had left and gave a smile to the five seated at the table, "At least some of you kiddos know when it's chow time at least, honestly it would be less if your father didn't need to drag your sisters away from their stories." no sooner had the woman said this did everyone hear a thumping sound echoing from upstairs followed by a mixture of laughing and distress.

Nick had only seen the woman for a bit earlier but did notice she seemed older and reminded him of the some of the female construction workers he used to pass by on his way to the Wrench-O-Rama in Los Perdidos, strong and used to lifting daily, but what he did notice were two small mounds on the top of her head.

What were those anyway?

"Oh, these old things?" she said and flicked one of the nubs. "They're bear ears, on account of me being a bear Faunus and also making me a genuine 'Mama Bear' like no other." said the woman quite proudly.

Ah, crap he thought out loud again.

"Again huh? Anyway, my name is Julia Arc, and the mother of the little ones you see sitting around the table, also a word of advice both Jammy and Jasper are bear Faunus as well." Julia then walked around the table and sat next to Jasper and gave her a scratch on her head between her…

Oh, she had bear ears too.

Jasper had a look of peace on her face as she was enjoying the scratching given to her by her mother, Nick smiled at this, "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am, everyone has been awesome some far."

Those at the table had a small smile now, although Julia had to stare at June since she had nearly decided to give another 'Death Hug' to Nick for the compliment, but before anything else happened John had returned to the kitchen carrying two more kids in each arm.

"Dad please..." the short blacked haired one pleaded and kicked weakly.

"We were almost done with the chapter..." Continued the long blonde haired one and flailed weakly.

John only chuckled and readjusted his hold on his daughters.

"Jazz?" He looked at his black-haired daughter.

"Jess?" He looked at his blonde hair daughter.

Both of whom now squirmed to get out of his hold but then gave up a few seconds later.

John gave another small laugh and sat them both down in a different chair right next to each other, as he did he turned around and saw another blonde head of braided hair that looked up at him with a blue and hazel eye and gave her a pat on the head, "Can you make sure they both stay at the table for me Jo?"

Jo nodded, "I'll keep watch of them like all the other times' dad." she then took he seat next to Jazz and kept on eye of them.

Nick was surprised, to say the least, how many kids did they have?

**Thunk** "Ow!"

Everyone heard the noise and turned to see a young blonde boy rubbing his forehead and had an open comic book held in his hand.

June giggled, "Silly Jaune, you know walking and reading is dangerous."

"But 'Mad King' is awesome! I couldn't wait to see how he gains back his broken crown to defeat the kingdom of The Fool!" Jaune tried to argue with a tinge of embarrassment on his face.

His mother Julia came to his rescue sort of, "John I know your father bought you the 'entire' series that came out this year all at once, but no books at the dinner table, if it applies to Jasper then it applies to you too young man." Julia then looked to Jasper who had turned away and suddenly found the door frame to be very interesting.

Jaune gave a small "Okay mom." and went to put the comic book up in the living room for the time being and took a seat next to Jess and left only one spot open at the table now.

(~)

The kitchen was then filled with the chatter of the family, Nick heard different conversations going on, from talks about characters in a story, about weapons and the occasional swear from John as he had burned himself while removing the tin foil that covered the baking trays that he pulled out of the oven.

The kitchen was soon filled with the smell of cooked pork and earned a stomach growl from Nick that got a laugh out of Jewel. Nick didn't mind though, it smelled delicious.

No sooner did John uncover the ribs that everyone started to serve themselves what they wanted, and all took their respective seats back at the table.

Nick looked at his plate, two ribs with specks of pepper and hints of browning around certain edges of the ribs were seen, a fluffy mound of mashed potatoes that had bits of potato skin in it and a golden roll of bread that was still warm and recently buttered. He began to dig into the ribs, the pork slid off the bone cleanly as he bit a piece off, the simple taste of pork with salt and pepper was pleasant and proved a mouthful. Grabbing fork to spoon in some potatoes now, they were creamy and a bit cheesy as well with the taste of butter in them to go well with the pork. Lastly was the bread roll, the butter has melted on the roll and was soaking into the bread, taking a bite the bread was slightly sweet but warm and fluffy and reminded Nick of Rhonda's biscuits she had made on rare occasions. Weird. After trying everything separate Nick dug into his meal as happily as those around him at the table.

(~)

John loved pork ribs, second only to Julia's Cheesecake of course, but on the gauge of meat, it was the ribs. Taking a large bite out of his rib he gave a look around the table and the small pile of bones growing in the middle, the room was quiet now saved for the sounds of tableware clattering, meat or bread tearing and the occasional 'Mmm' being heard. Like John's grandpa once said, "If a family is quite while they eat it means they're either unhappy or the food is damn good!"

John had seen and heard the happiness coming from his kids 'Glad the food is damn good then' and chuckled to himself and savored a bite of potatoes, "Mmmm. Cheesy."

(~)

After few more second servings of food, everyone had their fill and gave thanks to their dad for food who only replied, "I slave away in the hot kitchen to ensure my children and lovely wife have only the best of meals."

However his bubble was burst by his own wife, "Sweetie, you just turned the oven on and placed the ribs in on a timer then pounded the potatoes and kept asking me if they needed less salt, the bread was store-bought as well."

John only slightly deflated at the worlds but repeated once more "To ensure my children and lovely wife have the best of meals." followed by leaning over and giving a kiss to his wife.

John then looked at his kids and Nick, "Alright then everyone, who's turn is it to do the dishes this time?"

Everyone save for John, Julia and Nick had pointed to Jewel, who only twitched an eyebrow at how quickly the fingers were pointed at her and mumbled "traitors" under her breath.

John only continued, "Alrighty then everyone, go about your day and love you all, almost forgot Nick and Jaune, follow me outside please I have to talk to you both."

All of the Arc kids except for Jaune and Jewel had started leaving the kitchen, saying 'thanks and love you' to their parents and 'Thanks' to the dishwasher for the day. John then last got a kiss from Julia and "Good luck" before she left the kitchen.

"Okay now boys, follow me," said John with a smile as he got up from the table and had the two boys strap on a pair of shoes and walk outside with him.

(~)

It was a cool evening outside, the sun was now setting giving way to a clear setting sky. Nick and Jaune had followed John outside the front of the house letting Nick see the outside of the house for the first time. The house itself was painted white and was quite large, larger than he had expected it to be as it seemed to be a two-story home. It reminded Nick of those houses out in the outskirts of Los Perdidos, where the bustling of the city gave way to fields for farming, seemingly to be as if he never left his home in the first place. But a shattered moon slowly fading into view as the day gave way to night time was a reminder to Nick that the world he once knew was gone an-

"Oof" as Nick suddenly bumped into the back of John who had stopped walking. Jaune only looked at Nick in confusion and for John to turn around and look at him.

"Sorry, was just looking around and I got caught in my own thoughts." which was the truth.

Nick then noticed a pair of old heavy wooden doors seem to be made into a doorway that stuck out in the ground like a bunker. But what was it exactly?

"Hey dad why are we at your armory, I thought you said we weren't allowed in there?" asked Jaune

"Well usually that would be the case, but you're not allowed in without me knowing about it to make sure you don't get hurt, but we're here so you can choose your weapons that you'll be training with for next week." John had said, this caused Jaune to gasp and grin with stars in his eyes, Nick was confused once more for the day.

"Wait what's going on next week Mr. Arc?"

John then smiled at both Nick and Jaune, "Follow me and I'll explain." John then turned around and with a heavy wooden creak the doors were opened and John walked into the darkness.

Jaune and Nick were just looking as John seemed to fade into darkness as he descended down the stairs, neither of them wanted to go down, but then they heard shuffling and a whirring sound and suddenly a doorway of light came into view at the bottom of the stairs. Nick elbowed Jaune who jumped into surprise and made a motion to go down first, Jaune only nodded and went down first. Nick followed hesitantly soon after Jaune, Nick had grown a slight fear of 'Stairs leading into darkness into a room of light' well not really but he's been down one too many back in Los Perdidos and always got jumped by a zombie at most times. Those sucked.

After forty steps down the stairways, Jaune and Nick were now in a large wooden room, three feet higher than John's height and wider than the entire first floor of the house if Nick could guess. But what had caught the attention of the two young ones were the various types of weapons that lined the left side of the room with a door frame that had an ornate wooden side that said 'weapons room' hanging from the top by small chains, and on the right side were different types of armor and protective clothing, another door frame with another sign hanging that said 'armor room'. What stood out the most about the room was a statue made of solid marble that both Nick and Jaune had started to walk closer towards as it showed a bearded man wearing heavy armor crouched ready to strike at an unseen foe, a blade ready to strike and a shield posed to defend that had twin crescent moons etched in gold upon the shield. On the podium of the statue it read, "Roy 'The Hero' Arc, the first hero and greatest Arc in the story that is Remnant, may he guide his own into eternal glory and defend the light for years to come."

Nick was still in amazement and not only the armor and weapons but the room itself, Jaune had seen the armory a few times but usually he had sneaked in a few times but was always caught by either his parents or Jammy, but being able to actually see the room in all its glory was a sight to behold for the young Jaune.

"I take it you boys are liking the armory then?" John had his arms crossed and was leaning against a wall, a huge smile on his face and he remembered when his father had shown him the armory for the first time.

"It's so cool dad, all these weapons the statue the armor everything!" said an excited Jaune

"But why did you want to talk to us about something down here though?" asked Nick

Jaune looked at Nick and then to his dad, and suddenly remembered the reason why they had come down here in the first place, but before he went off John held up a finger.

"To answer your question Nick, this is the Arc Armory, cliché I know but this is an armory used by the Arc family and by the guards of Silvertonne hence the size of it. But the reason why I brought you both down here is that firstly you both will choose a weapon to start practicing within the upcoming week. Secondly, Nick, I've decided to adopt you as an Arc and train you into being the first of something new for the family that has never been done in the history of the Arc name."

Nick was beyond confused at first, the fact he was adopted not even a day after being saved by the man was insane! But as he mulled it over as he realized that he really had no family on this planet, and it seemed that everyone was okay with it since mostly all the girls he met today in the house had called him 'brother' which he was not used to but still. Nick then looked at Jaune who was smiling at Nick now, 'Well maybe having a brother in an actual family won't be too bad.' Nick then gave a smile back.

(~)

John then went into a quick history lesson about the Arc family and there deeds throughout history, from the first of the Arc names being Roy Arc, claimed to be one of the first huntsman in history, supposedly organizing and partaking in a defense of a city that was attacked by both bandits and Grimm, but strove off the Grimm in droves and gained the alliance of not only the people of the city but of the bandits as well after they saw him in battle, making the bandits into the guards of the city and giving him the title of 'The Hero'. It went on for a few hours, but both Jaune and Nick were entranced by these stories of heroism and in some cases dark heroism such as Lydia 'Shadow' Arc, a wife turned widow after being beaten to near-death only to hear her husband and young son being killed by the king's men as they all but ransacked and pillaged her small town for coins and supplies for the supposed war efforts, she swore vengeance upon them, creating a small force of bandits and learning the skills to sneak by easily as she was claimed by many to have killed the very men who destroyed her life, and like a snake trail led to her assassinating the king who was rumored to be corrupted by riches and power.

"And now for why both of you are here, so come on and follow me." John got up from his seat with Jaune and Nick following behind as they headed towards the weapons room.

Inside the room were walls of different shields and blades, ranging from one-handed short swords, buckler shields, tower shields, pole-arms, Claymores and battle-axes even a wall of bows and crossbows and daggers.

"Alright boys, go ahead and pick the weapon that calls out to you alright?" John clapped his hands and both boys looked at each other, nodded and started to walk around the room.

Nick followed Jaune to the swords and shields, he experimented by holding a few of the shields, but they felt off for some reason, he then grabbed a short sword, it felt better but it missed that 'oomph' factor to it. Nick then went by Jaune who was looking at a kite shield and long sword. Nick walked by the wall of bows only glancing at a few but not really giving a second glance, and soon found himself looking at the pole weapons. Spears were a bit better, let him have reach but still missed something, a polearm weapon then? Nick then started looking at the pole weapons and stopped when his eye caught a curved blade, pulling the pole off the rack he saw it was an Iron Glaive, but it felt comfortable to him like he's used something like this beforehand. Nick thought he was second-guessing himself but decided this was the weapon he wanted and carried it with him.

John had seen his two boys inspecting the weapons, he smiled when he saw Jaune start walking back with a sword and shield, simple but quick to learn and had many prospects if fully mastered. John was mildly surprised when he saw Nick carrying a Glaive back with him, but had seen how Nick had confidence and familiarity in his choice of weapon.

"Alright, boys so these are the weapons you both want to practice with then?"

"Yes!" they said in unison.

John then clapped at the boy's decisions causing both of them to jump. "Now boys remember these are just practice weapons and although they are your first choices I know you'll grow in not only body and mind, but in skill and strategy, so it may also mean that your choice in weapon may change as well, I mean look at me, I started off training with daggers and now grown fond of using my claymore instead, so don't feel ashamed if you choose a different weapon and instead see it as spreading your skills of weapons. Do I make myself clear?" both boys nodded in unison with grins on there faces and sparkle in their eyes.

"Great! Now come on it's getting late and your mother has… Plans for me tonight, so it's best for me not to keep her waiting less she decides to hunt me down." John then turned on his heel and hoped his sons didn't see the worried look on his face.

Soon enough they were outside the armory doors, John had turned the lights off and closed the doors after both Jaune and Nick had exited and were a few feet in front of him both of which were carrying their chosen weapons and talking to each other happily, already John had several plans on he was going to train them.

As John looked at the both of his sons, one of blood and one recently adopted had begun to wonder deep down if training them was indeed a good choice, he could've just told them anything else and have them live normally, but he doubt he can do that now after the stories he's told, much like how it happened to himself honesty. Strange to think he wanted to be a simple bookstore owner back then, but he was glad his father was so adamant on him becoming a hero and that his brother had chosen the normal life, otherwise he wouldn't have 9 amazing kids and a loving (if not dangerous yet totally badass) wife. The wind suddenly blew a cold wind and several leaves into John's eyes and face, quickly wiping away the leaves before they got into his mouth or beard he blinked and was confused by an odd sight before him.

In front of him were two young men, walking in the same spots that Nick and Jaune had just been standing in but had an aura of confidence to them, John, however, couldn't see either of their faces but was able to make out details. The one on the left had blonde hair, was wearing what seemed to be a hooded sweater with blue jeans and sneakers on, what stood out was a familiar looking sword and shield that he had, and from the armor he wore as well, a white cuircass with yellow trim shoulder pauldrons and gauntlets that had the same color scheme. The one on the right had black hair and seemed to be wearing a police vest over a blue dress shirt with the sleeves pulled up, black pants and combat boots, but on his back was an odd weapon strapped upon him, the weapon was odd and looked like a combination of a Katana blade and a machete that conjoined handles at the center into a single piece. John blinked as the odd weapon began to morph into a wooden baseball bat with nails dented and hammered into it, John only stared as the two young men walked onwards, the weapon changing once more into what seemed to be a mix of a chainsaw blade and a sword. John finally decided to rub his eyes and just as quickly as the men appeared they were gone with both Jaune and Nick in the spots of the men, both of whom looked back at John and gave him a toothy grin.

It suddenly clicked to John 'So that's what grandpa and dad had said bout sights only an Arc can have.' John gave a chuckle back at the boys and continued walking home, maybe these boys will become some of the most badass hunters on Remnant if what he saw was anything to go by.

(~)

**2 Years Later**

Over the following years, Silvertonne had grown larger as a whole, the town itself was a mix of countryside location meets small urban area, various streets and stores were about now and once dirt roads had given way to stone walkways and paved roads. Hell even the once wooden walls that had protected the town had begun to slowly be replaced with stone and iron, plus with new trade routes being made after the discovery of a dust deposit a year back had brought a bit more attention to Silvertonne and with attention came benefits.

John had gone from Chieftain to Mayor of Silvertonne, which in his opinion sounded less cool, but besides a change in title not much of his standard duties had changed much. The life of his family did change however, the biggest change was his first daughter Jewel becoming a leader of her own group of the newly created town guards, plus she changed her hair to one that resembled Julia's own style which John was glad about.

Jammy and Jasper had only become more informative as ever becoming the impromptu source when it came to dealing with finances and trade due to the increase in population and jobs from the dust mines within the town. June was still June, and had only just a smidge taller but was still the bundle of odd and happy energy and had grown attached to Nick.

Jazz and Jess were a different matter since a book store had opened up in the town and with new books came new ideas and materials, unfortunately they got their hands on some "Mistralian Manga" which were a type of comics that involved stories and illustrations of heroes and 'questionable' plotlines, this however led to Jazz becoming an illustrator while Jess was the author of their stories.

Jo had taken up learning more about machines in general and even became the family go-to gal to fix certain electrical items. Julia was still a blacksmith but had recently hired some help since she was now in the process of learning about the creation of ballistic weapons from scratch, sure they were in modern times, but firearms were expensive to import so she decided to just make them instead, at least that what she says, but John and the kids know better than trying to correct her.

Lastly were his two sons, Jaune and Nick, Jaune had shared his room with Nick, and opted for bunk beds much to their joy and oddly enough, Jazz and Jess's dismay. The brothers in names were taking to the training as a fish would swim in water, John had even unlocked Jaune's Aura and was surprised that he had a hefty amount of the stuff, he tried to unlock Nick's Aura as well but remembered that he was already unlocked and that he too had an insane amount just as Jaune did. What followed after they had chosen their weapons was intense training and learning techniques in order to properly use their weapons, they even had help with training from some of the town guards, but would often spar with each other, such sparring sessions as John had learned, involved the both of them going at it until near exhaustion, but they would always tell each other what they had done wrong after they fought to help each other improve but would always finish training with a smile on their faces.

John also took notice of how they both differed in fighting. Jaune had a sword and shield and rather than trying to overpower to win his fights quickly, he would take time in order to come up with a strategy and even go as far as to have his opponent tire themselves first, Hell, even at age ten he had gotten lucky enough to win a few spars against the Rookie guardsmen and this was beneficial since getting your ass beaten by a ten year old ensured you needed to train better. Nick, however, was different from Jaune, yes he did have tactics but he would often charge in using both strength and speed to his advantage, and like Jaune he had beaten some Rookie guardsmen and, to John's approval had started asking Jaune to spar without weapons and do hand to hand training on there own accord with the occasional help from the family fighter that was Jewel, with Nick having found a mix of grappling and powerful kicks and Jaune having a mix of boxing and submission holds.

However, today was different and would be a surprise not only for the brothers but for the family as well.

(~)

Today was a Saturday on a pleasant and cloudy day, Saturdays meant hand to hand sparring for the brothers and also meant that Jewel would be helping them out with their techniques if needed. Jewel was sitting on a wooden bench that looked over a small clearing that was behind their home, in that clearing she saw the movements of her two little brothers that were sparring ferociously with each other, it was a strange sight when you remember that they were both just ten years old. Jaune was wearing white running sneakers with black shorts and a blue shirt that had slowly become darker with sweat and stained with grass and dirt marks, Nick was also wearing black shorts, but had black sneakers on and had a red shirt on as well with an equal amount of stains as Jaune's own shirt, both of whom now had stopped, for the time being, still holding a fighting stance and seeming to wait on who would move next.

Jewel also liked watching them spar, especially when it was hand to hand since it always reminded her of the training montages in those kung-fu movies, she heard footsteps behind her and saw both Jazz and Jess walking up to sit next to her, both of whom had a notebook in their hands. "I guess you both are here to gather more materials for your stories then?"

The twins only smiled and said "Yup" in unison and took a seat on the floor in front of Jewel so they can watch their brothers spar as their brothers recent training was always a fun way to kill some time as they watched from the sides, and saying that they had improved a lot from when they both had started would be an understatement.

Nick suddenly rushed at Jaune and once close enough tried to roundhouse Jaune who was able to narrowly avoid the kick and step back, Jaune had replied to the kick by charging in and sending a straight followed by a right to Nick's stomach, the straight was blocked but the right landed with a satisfying thump. Nick grunted and sidestepped away to avoid another jab while holding his guard up, Jaune held his guard up as well and both started to circle each other. This time Jaune rushed in first trying to send a hard left and right to Nick but never had a chance to do so as Nick had rushed in as well and sent a knee into Jaune as the left was winding up, Jaune was know bent forward from the blow and knew already what a knee that strong meant. Jaune then felt the pressure on his lower back as two arms wrapped firmly around his abdomen, and soon his view was the ground, then the sky and then his sisters and his legs but upside down. He had just been Suplexed, and pretty damn hard if the dust and a small crack in the dirt was anything to go by, 'Thank Oum for Aura' thought Jaune painfully.

Nick then let go of Jaune out of the grab and fell over to his side with a groan and was breathing heavily while looking at the sky, he heard Nick breathing heavily as well, "Was the suplex really needed bro?" Jaune had complained

Nick only gave a tired laugh and raised a finger "It's because you didn't tell me there wasn't any more milk, after the fact I poured a bowl of Pumpkin Pete."

Jaune was silent by that answer and then gave a chuckle which turned into tired laughing and soon the brothers were both laughing in their states, although the soreness made the laughter hurt a bit yet they continued on laughing and slowly started to get up and dust themselves off.

After a quick fist bump they made their way to where their sisters sat with Jaune in the lead, Jazz and Jess were more than likely writing and drawing something in their notebooks if their hunched forms and pencil movements were any indications and Jewel was clapping proudly for her brothers fight and shouting, "Nick is catching up to you bro, he's just behind by two wins now!"

Jaune then looked at Nick with a raised brow "Were we keeping scores or something?"

Nick only shrugged as he was confused by this as well, "I always thought we were even, except for today because I won this round if the Suplex is any sign of that."

Before Jaune could give a snappy reply he heard a loud 'pop' sound and suddenly seeing three large military crates appear in front of Nick who had walked into the cases and fell causing the cases to collapse on him.

"Wha?" was the confused reply of Jaune as he suddenly saw his brother on the ground with large black cases on him and snapping out of his confusion had helped Nick up.

"You okay Nick?" asked Jewel with Jazz and Jess right behind her who all had seen the sudden appearance of the crates.

Nick for his part was okay but he seemed confused for a moment then a look of realization came across his face. Nick then looked over one of the cases and looked at the other two cases. Two cases seemed two be the size of large ice chests, two carrying handles on both sides and a heavy-looking clasp on the front of the case, each of the larger cases had a symbol on them, one had an image of a black knife within a yellow square, while the other had a black shirt symbol on a yellow square. The third case however had a symbol of a small backpack painted on the front, and had a tiny plaque that read 'Property of Nick Arc (Don't bother stealing. You can't even lift it.)'

Odd.

"So bro, you gonna tell us why the crate that appeared out of nowhere has your name on it?" asked Jewel, Nick sighed.

"It's gonna sound crazy sis, but these crates are connected to my semblance, I'll explain more but I want to tell everybody at once though." explained Nick. He then surprised his siblings by picking up one of the crates and made it disappear in front of him and did the same with the other two crates.

Nick saw the opened mouthed expressions on his sibling's faces and scratched the back of his head, "Long story, makes no sense, explain when we get inside for dinner." Nick said quickly and took off towards the house leaving his brother and three sisters to stare at him until they ran after him as well, eager to hear his explanation.

(~)

Unfortunately for Nick, Dinner had been held off after he was all but tackled to the ground by June no sooner when he had entered their home, thankfully John had just gotten home from a town meeting and saw Nick currently have the air squeezed out of him and his three daughters trying to pry the little fluff ball from harming Nick with her hugs.

However, when his kids saw him, they scrambled towards him and started speaking in jumbles that sounded like nonsense, although it wasn't nonsense but try listening to four people at once who all decided to quickly talk at once and over each other. John held up a hand and pointed to Jaune. "What happened Jaune?"

"Nickfoundouthissemblancesortofbutitsweirdboxesandhewou-" Jewel then clasped a hand over Jaune's mouth and replied "Nick may have discovered his semblance, but it's weird, and he wants to explain everything about it since he says it's weird to begin with but he knows what it is?" as even Jewel was unsure about it all.

(~)

John then called for a family meeting, everyone was home thankfully and Julia had just returned home after finishing her work for the day and came to the sight of her family all sitting on the sofas in the living with the coffee table moved away and Nick sitting in the spot where the table once was, but also three separate military cases, with Nick sitting on one of them. Julia coughed and possibly one of her proudest moments, made everyone in the room jump.

"Mom! Nick was telling us about his semblance and how his soul used to live in a different reality!" was the happy shout of June.

"Ah, what?" was her reply.

She then saw John get up and hug her tightly, "It's true, as weird as it sounds, but he showed us proof of it… Although it's still hard to believe anyway." John then led her to an open spot on the sofa and they both sat down, all her children giving a "Hi mom" as she passed them.

Nick smiled as well, "Hi ma, I found my semblance, but like I was telling everyone it's weird and something that would make a good story more than anything at least." Nick then motioned to Jazz and Jess who seemed to be moving a penciled hand more faster than before. "But I do have proof of it, even though I still don't believe it."

The next few hours involved Nick telling his story, going along the lines of still not remembering how he ended up in the forest, but after being saved by John and having an odd dream (Nick decided for the best to bend the truth a bit about who he truly is) and how a strange man explained to him that these cases had belonged to a hero and worked as backpacks that have no weight and can carry nigh near everything, how he now has the ability to hold eight items in his own pocket dimension of sorts and his soul was that of a fallen hero who was a simple mechanic yet had saved many lives during an outbreak of not Grimm, but of the dead rising once more and feasting on the living and how the world the hero was on was seemingly falling to this plague.

Nick paused for a bit and examined the room around him, mixed expressions overall from fear and disbelief, save for Jazz and Jess who were having a field day of materials.

Nick then went on to tell how the hero had saved those who weren't infected and the odd weapons that the hero had made, upon this part Nick had gotten up and pulled out, or tried to pull out a weapon from the crate, so asking John for help the weapon that was pulled out made everyone gasp and shocked John. In his hand was the weapon from his vision, a mix of a sword and a chainsaw blade, the teeth slowly rotating and the hum of a motor ever heard. Nick asked John to drop the weapon back into the crate, and John had a look inside the crate only to see and empty blackness that had no bottom. John complied and dropped the blade into the crate and it was swallowed easily into the void of the crate.

Nick thanked John and continued on with the story, saying how the hero had stopped a force that was meant to protect the people but were the ones who had caused the outbreak to occur just so they can have more power. Unfortunately, the hero had died soon after his final battle, falling to a case of bad luck and passing on as a hero. Now he had the soul of that hero in him and is meant to be a hero for Remnant and how he was tasked to help out Jaune especially, though Nick pretended to say that he didn't know why that was.

The room was now quite.

Jaune had raised his hand and asked, "So you have the soul of a hero as well as his weapons now too, and I'm meant to be a hero too?"

Nick nodded in the affirmative.

Jammy then asked, "And these cases you have are essentially backpacks that will way nothing, can carry anything and you can carry them on you at all times?"

Nick nodded once more.

Jo then asked, "So you can make these weapons as well?"

Before he could answer, however, Nick felt a massive hug that for once wasn't from June but was from Jewel. "That is so fucking awesome little bro!"

John clicked his tongue, "Language young lady."

"But it's true Dad! The soul of a hero in my own little brother and weapons of a hero to boot? How is that not badass!?" as Jewel squeezed harder and Nick was turning slightly red from the pressure and managed out a "Thanks sis." before she thankfully let him go.

Now it was John who spoke up, all though they noticed a fire seems to show in his eyes "So the soul of a hero huh Nick? Welp, guess this means I gotta train the both of you and Jaune a whole lot harder, but for until next year of course, but I will make sure you're downright ready for the challenges of Remnant the both of you."

Nick and Jaune shared a nervous chuckle in response at the Hell that may be awaiting around after the next few months. Jasper and Jo only stared at Nick and gave him a thumbs-up, Jewel seemed to have the same fire in her eye as John did, Jess and Jazz were scribbling madly now at this point, June was giddy and was bouncing in her seat, Jammy only pinched the bridge of her nose since it seemed this may be more trouble than it was worth, and Julia only had a palmed face due to her husband's antics.

Nick wasn't expecting the reactions that his, well, family had shown, honestly he expected to be called crazy or even a liar at least a few times, but they accepted his story bout having the soul of a hero in him, might've been due to showing the strange weapon that he had used in Los Perdidos, even their the damn Chainsword was weird weapon to used and find.

Maybe things would turn out better in the future hopefully, but looking around the room he was standing in, looking at his family, he was all ready to go through Hell and high waters to protect them. He stopped and looked at Jaune who was also looking around the room. Jaune apparently had the same thoughts as Nick, and with a smile that was filled with determination for the future he gave thumbs up which Nick gave in kind.

'This will be awesome' Nick thought to himself with a smile.

**A/N: So that's that, I know there are spots that seem rushed, but that's intentional since I plan on doing side stories in the next chapter, so things can better be explained and show exactly how life for Nick was like growing up as well as a look into the lives of the Arc family and the various shenanigans that John has to put up with as chieftan now Mayor. Anywho, thanks for reading and have a grand day.**

**I would also like to note is that I just want to get to Beacon soon, this time it won't be through forgery, (Spoilers yes, but damn it's been long enough that everyone knows at this point, like how Vader is Luke's father and Eisenburg is indeed the danger.)**


	5. Chapter 5

=Ch.5: The Brother's New Arc=

**A/N: Well College is a thing, decided to try to make a backlog of chapters, keyword being tried, and working on another Dead Rising Crossover story, because that game deserves more love, except for Dead Rising 4, even I couldn't find myself to enjoy it, still fun though, but I digress. So yes a new chapter sees them finally getting to where they need to be, also I'm thinking of side stories or "Cases" in this matter to put at the end of chapters starting with the next one. Already got a few on hand so they should be fun especially since one of them involves how exactly the density of Arc men is completely hereditary. But yes, onwards to the next chapter, and again, thank you for your time and have a good day and leave a review if you so choose so I can learn how I can make myself better.**

**All properties of Dead Rising belong to Capcom**

**All properties of RWBY belong to Roosterteeth**

**I only own my bad humor a movie ticket collection.**

(~)

**5 years later**

'This is gonna suck' was Nick's thought as he tried to block the overhand strike sent to him by John with the large claymore he often used and the block was successful as he had learned from previous sparring sessions. Yet his arms immediately vibrated and felt like they would fall off after blocking such powerful strikes. Nick gave a quick glance to his brother Jaune, who he had seen sprawled on the floor, dirty and with a water bottle balanced on his forehead. Nick suddenly felt a grip on the collar of his shirt and suddenly felt weightless and felt the impact of the floor on his back as his Aura blocked the damage, but not the wind from leaving him.

"Ah Cranberries! Sorry son, didn't mean to go that strong!" said a John as he kneeled down to make sure he didn't accidentally kill his adopted son.

True to John's word, he kicked up the training a year after Nick learned of his semblance and although Nick was all for the training, Jaune was currently weighing the odds around, sure he knew combat training was essential to becoming a huntsman, but he just really wished their dad had different ideas of what counted as 'bonding time' since Jaune was pretty sure that in these moments involved Jaune and Nick bonding more with the floor than with their dad, but Jaune did admit that the training was definitely showing results.

Thankfully it was only three years ago when a nearby Combat school was established within the town of Silvertonne, supposedly it was set up by some people called the "SDC" after another Dust deposit was found not even two miles away from the original one that was found. So now both Nick and Jaune were students of the aptly named "Silver Combat school" and although the classes were boring, both Jaune and Nick's grades were passable, yet it was a combat school and as long as your fighting prowess was exceptional you were passing. Jaune however thought this wasn't how the major combat schools had acted but he didn't complain if kicking ass in spars meant not having to do an essay on 'What parts of a Boartusk are edible and why?' then so be it, even Nick agreed to that for the most part.

(~)

Training and Nick's sore back aside, the now small city of "Silvertonne" which got a name change from 'Steeltonne' since they needed an official city name due to kingdom laws, was growing at a good rate, many more residents had begun to appear and make up permanent homes here. The increase in Faunus residents was also noticeable as well and luckily enough with most if not all of the citizens making it clear that discrimination was heavily frowned upon here, but what really stuck out was the increase of the seemingly aged citizens that had brought weapons with them into the city. This was a cause of concern however at first, but it was made clear that these folks were actually retired Huntsmen and Huntresses that just wanted to settle down someplace outside and away from the kingdoms and politics. John suddenly realized that he was now the Mayor of a Dust mining city, which was also a safe area for the Faunus but had also attracted retired Huntsmen who can still do heavy damage even in their old age.

'What a weird yet pleasant series of events.' John thought to himself, but he did keep an open mind to not drop his guard however as all good things come to an end eventually, paranoid maybe, but it's best to be safe than sorry.

Speaking of pleasant events however, Silvertonne had also recently become known not only for the Huntsmen retirees and Faunus safeness, but also because it had drawn the attention of weapon and gun nuts when John had a store opened under the Arc name just a few months ago that was making big waves, making it a second business owned by the Arc's with the first being the Blacksmith shop owned by Julia that was called 'Slash in an Arc' although she treated it more as hobby store than an actual business.

This new business was a weapon store simply named "Silvertonne Originals" and was an idea brought up by both Jo and Nick, who over the years had both proved to be experts on all things mechanical and electrical. Of course, John was reluctant at first but was quickly convinced when his wife Julia had heard the idea and had grown very proud that two of her kids wanted to run a business like her, as far as she believed anyways. John would've argued but the combination of a rare puppy dog face from Jo and bear cuddling from Julia quickly killed any argument that John had. Nick however only watched and shivered as his female family members had 'willed' down his father in but a few seconds. 'Arc women are terrifying' was Nick's only thought.

Then a few months later a garage and repair shop had seemingly opened up right next to the junkyard that Silvertonne owned, and was a strange sight to see a brand new gray metal building in front of a large white fenced off area of land where the rusted scraps of years gone could be seen piled high and well over the height of the fence. Nobody paid the shop's attention, at least during the first weeks that is.

Over the month, however, John was receiving odd reports of strange noises, flashing lights and bizarre sounds of possible gunfire being reported to be coming from the Junkyard that 'Silvertonne Originals' had been set up in front of. John already had a suspicion, or two suspicions on who exactly was the cause of those sounds, since the reports only happened on Sunday evenings, just when Nick and Jo went to go and work at the shop for the day. John however decided to ignore the reports, since it was only from the more younger of citizens and newcomers of Silvertonne, so in no way shape or form could this turn out bad, right?

(~)

**At Silvertonne Original's**

John was currently trying to comprehend exactly what he was looking at, it looked like a big cat, not a puma mind you, but more like a small mountain lion. But if the cat was shiny, made out of a beer keg, had a saw blade rotating in its torso, and was currently spring launching itself at old mannequins.

"Well, glad to know that works again." said a one happy Nick as he gave a high five to Jo who was just as happy.

**A few minutes ago**

John had decided to see what exactly his two kids were doing at Silvertonne Original and decided to head off towards the northern edge of the town on foot all the while giving a greeting to passerby and guards on the way over until he finally reached his destination and walked on inside. What he didn't expect was to see the inside of the store is a strange combination of garage meets weapons factory, but also seeing his two kids were beyond happy and almost in their elements as he saw them working on different projects all while Rock music blared from speakers in the shop. Nick was currently working on what seemed like a strange combination of a motorcycle that had the front of a steamroller welded to it, while Jo was typing away on a computer that had chords hooked up to a metal and clunky looking cat.

"Uhh, what are you kiddos up to?" John decided to announce finally, causing both of his kids to look up and smile at him before they walked over to him.

Both Nick and Jo were wearing blue coveralls that had several grease and dirt stains on them, each one had small circle over the heart where their names were written on each one, Jo had her long blonde hair in a ponytail and was wearing a black cap, Nick however had the arms of his coveralls cut to where it looked like he was wearing a shirt.

"Didn't expect to see you here dad!" smiled Jo as she gave John a hug.

"Same here pops, but to answer your question, me and Jo here are just creating things." Nick said with a grin.

John then looked at his two kids and wondered what exactly they did, however their attention was caught by the sounds of beeping and a mechanical "Meow" coming from the table that Jo was working at a few minutes before.

Jo rushed over while laughing happily and Nick decided, "How about we show you what we're doing instead pops?" and walked over to Jo's table as John only shrugged and followed them.

Not a few minutes later was John following both Jo and Nick to the back of the store where it led into the junkyard itself. Standing in the middle of the cleared portion of the yard were three mannequins, seeming to have rusted metal pieces on their faces to look like Grimm masks. Before John could ask however, Nick placed down the metal cat that he had been carrying and began to press buttons on the cat before another mechanical "Meow" was heard and Jo pulled out her scroll in order to record what was going to happen.

John continued to watch in curiosity of the metal cat as Nick stood back with Jo, a few seconds went by as the cat seemed to stretch before John saw portions of saw blades seeming to rise out the cat's body and launching itself, or pouncing, at the first mannequin tearing a large portion of the mannequin from the waist up. The cat skidded in it's landing and hopped in place to turn itself around before launching itself again at the second mannequin with the same result, on the third mannequin however, the cat had jumped a bit too high and shredded the head clean off the shoulders. The metal cat then gave another mechanical 'Meow' and even a purring sound before turning off and retracting the saw blades in its body.

Nick and Jo gave a high five in joy while John was stunned at what he saw.

"Nick, Jo, mind telling me what exactly you two just showed me?"

Jo noticed the look on her father's face and laughed while putting her scroll away. "That was the Sentry Cat, a weapon from Nick's crate, or a recreation of the weapon at least since the original one tended to explode after it was used, by the way dad, some of Nick's weapons are insane!"

John then looked at Nick for an answer to that statement who only scratched the side of his chin, "It's true pops, some of the weapons are weird, and some and Jo decided to list them down and see which ones were possible to remake, and we even recorded some of the weapons in use and already got orders for them on the website that Jo made too!"

John blinked a few times and looked between Jo and Nick, "You made a website?"

Jo nodded with a grin

"Since when?"

"Since two days ago dad, we posted the videos I recorded of the weapons Nick had and we've been trending, we even got offers to make weapons off the 'Combo' list that Nick has."

"Which is why we're selling them at the base price of a thousand lien a pop, because they don't know about our 'trade' secret." added Nick.

This only made John more confused at the explanation. "What do you mean exactly Nick?"

Jo and Nick looked at each other before holding their arms out as a pair of showmen on stage would do and motion towards the scrap metal filled yard that surrounded them.

Then it very clearly clicked in John's head, "Your weapons are being made of scrap metal?"

"Not just scrap metal, anything broken and inside the junkyard, heck even the Sentry Cat was made from an old beer keg and busted computer we found around here." said Nick proudly.

"Yup, and we also follow the rules of D.P.C which makes things go smoothly!" added Jo.

"And what exactly is D.P.C?"

"Well dad, D.P.C stands for Durable, Powerful and Cheap, mainly because we use parts we find in the junkyard to remake the weapons that Nick has in that box of his, except for the guns of course, we leave those for mom to make." said Jo.

John was at two minds about this, and placing a hand to his chin was deep in thought, 'On one hand my kids have started a business selling weapons and are even selling them for near dirt cheap, but also have a deep passion for it since from what he's seen so far is that they can create true wonders from nothing but scrap, and that left him impressed and proud of his two kids. Yet on the other hand'

And this is were the panic and worry kicked in folks. 'My kids are selling weapons and through their online website no less! I mean, what would Julia say if she found out what her kids were doing, would she be upset that someone else in the family is selling weapons but what if-'

Meanwhile outside of John's thoughts.

Both Jo and Nick only stared at their dad with slight worry, as he seemed to shift of varying facial features from a jovial grin to sullen look of dread, they knew this started happening ever since he became Mayor but it was weird seeing it firsthand.

"Is pops gonna be alright?" Nick leaned over and whispered to Jo

"No clue" was the simple reply.

Unfortunately for John, his inner fatherly turmoil was interrupted when he felt a pair of hands grab hold of his rear end and gave a yelp of surprise which in turn caused both Nick and Jo to yelp in response to their father's yelp, overall just a lot of yelping.

"Well it's good to see my Honey Giant walking about in the day, and thinking I wouldn't find you." said the all too familiar voice of Julia.

"Ma, did you really just grab dad's butt in front of us?" asked a slightly grossed out Jo.

"Well of course I did sweetie, I always remind your father of who he exactly belongs to, plus I would've grabbed for something else if you both weren't here." chuckled Julia.

This caused three responses.

John blushed like a tomato and looked away towards a dented car door as if it held the secrets as to why his wife was mentally scarring the kids.

Jo covered her ears and kneeled down quickly while going "Lalalala" loudly.

And Nick only closed his eyes and scrunched his face while shaking his head in an attempt to stop what he just heard from crawling further into his mind. Too late for that though.

"Seriously Ma, that's just… No." said Nick.

Julia only laughed, "Oh come off it Nick, I know all of my kids are old enough to know about the birds and the bees, besides it could be worse I coul-" John's hand was suddenly over Julia's mouth.

"I think that's enough my sugar bear, let's not traumatize our children any farther now okay?"

Jo and Nick gave their dad thanks and Julia only gave a muffled okay before John removed his hand. A few minutes of silence went by and was broken by Jo. "Soooo… Why are both you guys here at the store mom and dad?"

"I just wanted to see what you two actually did here and I'm honestly surprised by what I'm seeing and quite proud as well," said John.

"I only followed because your father was here and also needed to ask Nick if I can see the assault rifle again please?" asked Julia.

Nick blinked and shrugged and an assault rifle suddenly appeared in his hands which made John raise his brows in surprise as he handed the weapon to Julia. "Thank you so much sweetie, I should be able to make these bad boys on my own in a few weeks time and sell them like hotcakes, Oh which reminds me, were going out for pancakes in a few hours for Dinner so see you all then, ta-ta!"

and as quick as their mom showed up did she leave but not before she made John bend forward to give her a kiss and left not a few seconds after with an excited dust trail behind her, leaving only her kids and husband in silence.

"I'm glad she's my mom because I think I would be scared of her if she wasn't," said Nick, and Jo only nodded in agreement to the statement.

John then straightened himself out, "Anywho, what I said before is true and I'm quite proud of you both, in fact I'm proud of all my children for many reasons!" which was true since most of his kids have been showing promise in their hobbies so far, what with Jammy slowly becoming the family lawyer, Jazz and Jess having created a promising series of 'Questionable Literature' which he read once and wished to forget, only thing he remembers that it involved ninjas. Jasper had become the local librarian and to everyone's surprise, started to learn the smithing trade from Julia. Jewel was still in the guards but was on a break after being told that she was doing too good of a job since there was no crime of any kind in town, which seemed impossible by Jewel had pulled it off somehow. June, however, had calmed down over the years and had taken part-time in being a librarian, which was a complete 180 to her last job of being a luchador, (which involved Jaune and Nick helping her out and Jammy becoming their manager, it was a weird birthday for June.) and Jaune was a 'Jack of all trades' kind of man since he seems to have natural skills in most skills outside of battle, and Jewel pokes fun at him saying he has the "House Husband" skill set, much to Jaune's embarrassment. But John digressed.

"Well then, it is getting a bit late, so go ahead and finish up and head on home you two, wouldn't be great to make everyone wait up now, so I'll see you both soon okay kiddos?" as John gave both of his kids a pat on the head, doesn't matter how old his kids are, he was tall and he will give headpats to them. 'Huh, well dammit I gotta stop reading those damn mangas on my scroll during the town meetings, think they're corrupting me now too.'

"You got it dad"

"Sure things pops!"

And with that John turned and left the shop of Nick and Jo and heard them whisper excitedly about a new weapon that he swore involved the mention of a chainsaw being combined with a shotgun. It sounded cool as Hell.

Before John left the building however, John's gaze did a final sweep of the room, the various objects that each had their own workbench and each one it more progressed state of completion, and behind each object was a blueprint of some sort, even from a distance he could make a shape of the design itself, yet couldn't even begin to fathom what the main use of said weapons were, but in all honesty it was-

*delightful phone ringtone*

John answered the phone knowing it was work since his family only ever texts him, "Hello, yes, alright, I'll be over in a jiffy." and quickly hung up. 'Hope the meeting won't be too late, I really want to get pancakes.'

Giving a sigh, he headed for the door and gave a final look around, seeing both Nick and Jo hunched over a table with a large blue paper on it and smiled, 'Maybe the meeting won't be so bad' and left for the town hall.

(~)

**2 Years Later**

Both Jaune Arc and Nick Ramos were 17 now, amazing how time flies honestly, and even more amazing as to what exactly happened to the brothers as well. Call it a chance of fate, call it the fruits of their labor or even call it their father calling in a favor to a certain mug holding headmaster, but both Nick and Jaune were now packing up their clothes and a few belongings. For what reason exactly, perhaps they were running away, far from it as they were going to a location to train for the next four years of their lives.

"Beacon Academy, by Oum can you believe it Nick!" Jaune said happily and jumping in place.

"I believe it Jaune, especially after the last hundred or odd so times after we got the letter yesterday morning." said Nick.

"How can you not be excited about this Nick? It's freakin Beacon, the best school to become a Hunstman not to mention that only a small amount of applicants get accepted in the first place, to begin with, andImeanweonlyjustgraduatedfromSilverafewmonthsagoandalready-"

"Jaune! Take a breather please." Nick interrupted knowing full well that Jaune was going to pass out if he kept talking that fast.

"I get it Jaune you're excited and I'm excited too, but we gotta be calm too bro since we will be representing the Arc name out there." it was a good attempt on Nick's part to calm his brother down, but that only made Jaune have a face of realization and horror slowly start to spread. Thankfully Nick noticed this and before Jaune could start another mild panic attack he pulled a cookie out of thin air and shoved it into Jaune's mouth.

"Just stay focused Jaune, remember brothers stick together so you won't be alone out there bro, plus mom, Jewel, and June would whoop my ass if anything happened to you." Nick finished with a chuckle and grin

Jaune stared at Nick for a bit before placing the rest of the cookie into his mouth and chewed in thought for a minute before speaking. "I understand, but what I want to know is how you're so calm about this?"

In reply, Nick pulled out his scroll and opened the 'Chirper' app and turned the screen towards Jaune, "A friend called Little Red Reaper, they're a follower of mine and a weapons nut and I told them about what happened and needless to say they've been helping me stay calm about the whole thing since they seem to have the whole excitement down for me in check."

Jaune looked at the phone, "I thought you hated Chriper though Nick?" asked Jaune. "Just read the convo damn it." deadpanned Nick. Jaune then read one of the messages that Little Red Reaper had sent out loud, "Holy cow that's amazing Mechanic, my sister is going to Beacon too, maybe you both will see each other, oh man I'm so jealous right now but that means you make cooler weapons too and..." Nick then pulled the phone away.

"See what I told you Jaune?"

"Yeah, I see that Nick, are they a boy or a girl?"

"No clue, never bothered to ask honestly, but come on we still gotta finish packing."

After being successful in calming down Jaune, both brothers continued the task of packing, thank's to Nick semblance the task was much more easier, who knew that having that was essentially a chest that held it's own pocket dimension that could fit anything would make traveling so much simpler? Speaking of which.

"We can't forget about the cookies though Nick."

"As if I would forget about Mom's cookies."

A quick explanation being as Nick made the discovery that his semblance can also act as perpetual food storage. How this was learned was that Nick one day decided to make a Milkshake and sandwich for lunch, he then placed said meal into his storage chest for later, promptly forgot about it for a half month and then pulled out the meal and was surprised. The milkshake was still freezing cold, not even the glass was showing signs of sweating, and the sandwich was still as fresh as the day was made with the bread still soft, lettuce still cool and bacon still hot and crispy. Of course, he fed this to Jaune, who after finishing the meal was promptly told about the age of said meal by one Nick. Needless to say, the training had done wonders for Jaune as Nick was promptly thrown out the window. That was a fun time.

"Nice, now a quick check. So first is clothes."

"Got those packed just now Jaune."

"Weapons?"

"As if you needed to ask."

"Snacks?"

"Naturally."

"Good, good... So now what?"

Both Nick and Jaune gave each other a stare.

"Lunch?" asked Nick

"Lunch." confirmed Jaune.

(~)

John was currently sitting in the living room of the Arc house, excitedly tapping his fingers on his knees, for what reason exactly? Well, none other than the fact that his two sons are going to be attending beacon to become Huntsman of course! 'Granted I did ask for a favor from Oz, well worth the effort of when he asked me to, as he put it, "Pull a sneaky" on Glynda.' this however caused John to shudder a bit.

Besides the fact that John was going over the fact that he saw (and prefers to forget) what exactly Glynda hid in her closet and drawer, he was going over how far his two sons have come in terms of training, and was honestly proud of them and was thankful to the stars for Nick being part of the family, skies above he could only imagine how Jaune would've turned out if he, an only son, was only raised around seven sisters... John put a hand to his chin, "You know maybe it didn't matter since he might've just dragged Nick along for whatever antics those seven do usually, well five really since Jazz and Jass have their stories and all." Suddenly the sound of steps down the stairs stopped John's musings.

"Afternoon Dad."

"Sup Pops."

John grins at the sight of his two sons, indeed, they both have come far from when they first started training all those years ago. "Hello boys, I take it you both are done with packing?"

They both nod, "It was really easy to do since it's essentially cheating at this point with Nick's storage semblance." said Jaune.

"So where is everyone pops?" asked Nick, noticing the lack of suddenly being tackle hugged by June at this point.

John chuckled "June went with Jasper and Jewel to the store, twins are with their books, Jammy is napping and Jo is working repairing "

"And what about mom?" asked Nick.

Jaune felt a sudden tingly feeling crawling up his spine. The two boys were suddenly made to bend back a bit lower as they were grabbed in a hug from behind by their own mother in all her 5'5 glory. "Oh my baby boys are going to become Huntsmen!" she said happily, but without warning the boys felt her grip slowly become tighter, "Yet neither one of them told me about this glorious news!" she still held a cheery tone but now both boys were panicking.

"I thought you were gonna tell her Jaune!" feeling their mom's arm growing tighter around his neck.

"You told me you were gonna tell her Nick!" trying to pry off his mom's arm, damn she's strong.

John decided he should save his sons from his wife Julia's wrath, "Sweety Smithy, they only found out yesterday morning so please don't end them before they can even start?"

Julia then looked between Nick and Jaune, before looking at John and smiling a bit more with a gleam in her eye, "Don't think you're getting off so easily either my Honey Darling, you knew as well and didn't tell me either now did you?" she then let go of her sons with Jaune falling to the floor and Nick trying to get his breath back.

John saw the error of his ways and gulped, "W-well it slipped my mind?" he tried and failed to make an excuse as he saw his wife walk up to him as he was sitting on the sofa, "Sweety please the boys are-" John motioned to where his sons were standing at, and noticing they were nowhere to be seen and heard the sound of a fridge door closing down the hall, "-here?" and he saw the smirk on Julia's face and only said a few words, "Uh, please be gentle?" John pleaded asked before feeling his shirt being grabbed by Julia and the feeling of being dragged away upstairs.

**Meanwhile in Kitchen**

Both Jaune and Nick were now in the middle of making grilled cheese sandwiches now, trying valiantly to ignore the sounds of their father being dragged upstairs by their mother. Nick forgets just how strong his mom is sometimes because of the sight of seeing a woman who is 2 feet shorter than a 7-foot mountain man easily dragging said man up the stairs partially against his will. "You think dad will be fine?" asked Nick with a hint of worry.

"I don't think so, some Atlas guys have been hassling her about selling her shop to them and she's been fine for the most part, but she seemed more pissed than normal bro, plus the fact you forgot to tell her about us going to Beacon." Jaune said while spreading butter on a piece of bread.

"Oi, I thought you were gonna tell her Jaune!" Nick exclaimed while shredding the Gouda and Cheddar cheese. Jaune hummed a bit to himself, "Then let's agree to the fact we are both at fault then, now hand me the cheese please?"

Soon the kitchen was filled with the sound and smell of grilled cheese as Jaune made the sandwiches and Nick sat a table nearby texting with his friend Red Reaper. The silence was broken soon by Nick, "So the plan for the day after tomorrow is us taking a Bullhead to Vale and then taking a ride on an airship to Beacon itself right?" "Jaune finished making the sandwiches and set the plates on the table."Pretty much, that reminds me, you got my medicine for the airsickness right?" Nick for his part only nodded as his mouth was filled with very hot cheese.

The brothers then sat in silence and soon finished their meal, unfortunately, they both heard the forbidden sounds coming from upstairs causing both to shudder, "Should we go train outside?" asked Jaune. "Yep" was the quick reply as they both left the house placing their plates in the sink and getting far away from the house for the time being.

(~)

**2 Days Later**

The day following after the boys had packed was a heartfelt affair of hugs and "See you later" as each of the Arc sisters was seeing their only brothers off as they went to go train to become guardians against the creatures of darkness. They couldn't have been any prouder for them and each sister had given both brothers a going away/congratulations gift.

Jo and their mother Julia had worked together and had given Nick a police vest similar to the one Nick had in his clothes chest, but this being far more durable and lighter than the normal one and had the letters "ARC" in bold white on the back of the vest. Meanwhile, Jaune got a set of chest armor, bracers and shoulder guards made from a secret mix of metals from Julia saying that it's near-indestructible and had been painted white and had gold trimming around the armor itself.

Jewel had given Nick a simple pair of knuckle dusters, which she may have taken off of a drunk during her guard shift, and had given Jaune three extra pairs of his favorite Pumpkin Pete hoodies, "Just in case one of them tears or gets lost." she said.

Jazz and Jess were different, Jazz gave Jaune a pair of reading glasses and a signed copy of 'The Mad King: Cracked Crown - The complete edition' comic book and Jess gave Nick a book called '102 ways to make weapons that aren't weapons Volume 3.'

Jammy had given both Jaune and Nick new wallets that had the Arc emblem pressed into the leather, inside the wallet was 200 lien and a photo of the entire family.

June had given her brothers a set of large onesies, a blue rabbit onesie for Jaune and a red onesie for Nick, the brothers were speechless but June proudly said she owned a pair of a green frog onesie and said they were very comfy.

Jasper being the last one to give a gift had given both Jaune and Nick their own travel belts, Jaune being brown and several pouches on the sides of the belt, standard for any training huntsman, and Nick's was black, more akin to that of a belt seen on police officers.

The brothers gave each of their sisters, who were shorter than themselves, a strong hug to each of them and a thank you for the wonderful gifts, each sister smiling and few of them with tears. The boys thought the gifts were done but John had other plans for them.

John got up the sofa that he was sitting on and from behind the sofa pulled out a sword in a white sheath, "Jaune can you come over here for a moment please?" the other sisters saw what their father was doing and all took a seat on the available sofas, much to Jaune's and Nick's confusion. "Now son, usually this would be a large ceremony to be had, but I decided to do things differently and skip the three-hour-long talking part, so let me begin." John cleared his throat and sounded not only deeper but far more authoritative than usual.

"Jaune Miles Arc, heir to the Arc household, first son of John Adams Arc and first son of Julia White Arc. As the current head of the Arc household, I present to you, the ancestral blade Crocea Mors, a weapon that has been handed down from Father to Son over the many years of the existence of the Arc lineage, and it is with great honor that I hand this blade down to you, my son Jaune Arc, may it protect you from the beasts of darkness and protect the innocent from the wickedness of the world and bring forth the light of a better tomorrow." John then held the weapon out towards Jaune who grabbed the weapon with both hands, feeling a sense of comfort and familiarity with the ancient blade as soon as he touched it. Jaune lost this feeling as soon as his bother clasped both of his shoulders with a large smile and his voice returning to normal. "I am proud of you my son, you will indeed make great use of the blade, plus the blade itself is indestructible and has no need to be sharpened as it has stayed as sharp as the day it was forged all those years ago, plus the sheath is also a shield so it can hang easily in one or your belt and now it is yours my son, congratulations!" and John took Jaune into a great bear hug with Jaune's spine having an audible pop that caused the others in the room to wince ever slightly at the sound.

"Dad, please... Can't breathe..." Jaune gasped out.

"Oh sorry Jaune, just really happy you know?" John grinned and then looked at Nick. "Now it's your turn my boy." as John reached into his back pocket to grab something and had a closed hand.

Jaune then took a seat next to his sister Jewel with the blade across his lap.

Nick now stood in front of John, who once more began in the deep voice from before, "Nick Ramos Arc, second son of John Adam Arc and second son of Julia White Arc, though not connected by blood, your bond with the family is just as strong if not stronger, and as second son I have taken it upon myself as current head of the Arc household to bestow upon you a gift of a title." John then opens up his hand to show a silver necklace, the pendant being the shape of a silver shield with the Arc emblem made in bronze upon the small shield and the outline of the shield being in gold. "Nick Ramos Arc, it is with great honor that I bestow upon you title of 'Arc Guardian' with this title comes along with a duty of the utmost importance, as the second son you are to protect the future head of the Arc household and ensure his safety, but this means to look after your own safety as well. I am proud of you Nick and am happy that you have been part of this family for many years and created a bound with not only Jaune but with the seven sisters of the household as well which has brought me the greatest of joy. May you wear this proudly my son." John then puts the necklace around Nick's neck, and feels a small tingly sensation and feels himself standing taller than before. Much the same as Jaune, Nick was crushed in a happy bear hug by John minus the spine popping.

What followed after was a dinner of steak and chicken alfredo with bread rolls, like a family meal of the favorite foods of Nick and Jaune. The next morning after more hugs, tears, and farewells, Jaune and Nick had made their way to Vale via a Bullhead, both with an excited nervousness as they left the familiar sight of Silvertonne and soon saw the Kingdom of Vale and with it their new journey over the horizon.

"So now what Nick?" asked an excited Jaune they stepped off the bullhead and adjusting his new weapon of Crocea Mors on his belt, and happy that the air sickness medicine worked wonders.

"Now we head to the docks for the airship to Beacon, which we still have a few hours for honestly." answered Nick who was rubbing the shield necklace between his fingers.

The brothers looked at each other in silence and Jaune's stomach grumbled.

"Lunch?" asked Nick.

"Lunch" confirmed Jaune as they both headed towards downtown to find a place to eat.

And thus a new chapter of life for the brothers would soon begin.

(~)

**A/N: Howdy once again, the chapter was shorter than my last one's I will admit but that's fine, anywho yes they are now in Vale and soon the shenanigans will come into fruition, but that doesn't mean that everything will remain quiet in their hometown of Silvertonne for long, besides when you leave a home of seven sisters, a badass mayor of a father and an even more badass blacksmith of a mother, things will happen. Maybe.**

**Anyways have a great day and hope y'all visit for the next one, and thank you.**


	6. Chapter 6

=Ch.6: Let's be Huntsmen!=

**A/N: I ain't dead, but I now have a job, plus Life doesn't like me because every time I sit down to go ahead and write something down for the story I suddenly get a call or I'm "Volunteered" to do something for the family. Yes, I am complaining because I really like making this story but every time I try to add to it, suddenly Life happens.**

**Anywho, yes a new chapter, preinitiation launch and what not and as I stated in past chapters, ex[ect some out of character for Nick and Jaune, possibly more so for Nick because he might not have been of sound mind after the outbreak. Also, no zombies will appear in this story. Now enjoy the chapter, have a good day leave a review if ya want and thank you for reading.**

**All properties of Dead Rising belong to Capcom**

**All properties of RWBY belong to Roosterteeth**

**I only own the questionable story pacing and a jar of Honey**

(~)

**Vale Airship Docks**

The masses of future huntsman and huntress was a hefty amount, as not only future potential students were milling about with their friends from previous combat schools, but also saying goodbyes to family and friends who came to see them off, laughter followed by sobs of joy and happiness could be heard about. So many stories in one spot, some of them about making a name for themselves, others because they believe its the right path to take, while others are simply going with the flow.

Yet amongst this sea of individuals are two in particular, both of whom were heading to their seats for departure, yet neither of them carried any luggage.

A young man, 17 years old at a solid 6'1 ft tall, blonde hair that appears messy yet at the same time intentional, light skin and solid blue eyes. A seemingly lanky frame, but given that the man is wearing a black hooded sweater, blue jeans with a tear on one pant leg and comfy black sneakers, but wearing bits of white armor that have gold trimming on the edges, a chest piece, shoulder guards (or pauldrons as he thinks that's what they're called) and gauntlets with brown fingerless gloves to be exact. An average fellow honestly, with a seemingly average weapon of a sword in a white sheath. And he seemed to be in quite high spirits as a tune could be heard being hummed by him.

This young man was not alone of course as another fellow of the same age was walking next to him. At an average of 5'8,'' he had unkempt black hair, light brown skin, and hazel eyes. A partially stockier frame compared to the blonde, the man wore a blue dress shirt, black elbow guards and what seemed to be a bullet proof police vest with the letters "A.R.C" in bold white letters on the back of the vest, black slacks and black boots with a knee guard on the right leg with a belt that seemed similar to those that the Vale police wear, a pistol sat in the holster. A few people believed that he's a personal guard of sorts, and would seem intimidating if he didn't have a large grin while eating a burger.

"Still can't believe you already ate two of those things, and that's your third one already ain't it?" asked the blonde man with a slightly worried attitude.

"It sure is bro, but I mean come on those 'Large' burgers were tiny and wouldn't be able to my craving for a good ole burger from a dive." the shorter man said as he held the burger up and took a victorious bite out of it. "Just don't blow chunks onboard will you Nick?" asked the blonde.

The man named Nick only raised a brow, "I'm not the one who gets motion sickness Jaune, which reminds me that you didn't take your pills for that yet." Nick then pulled out a foil-covered tablet and gave it to Jaune who gave a grin in thanks.

These two were Jaune Arc and Nick Ramos, brothers in all but blood and soon to be huntsman of Beacon Academy. But now the brothers face a new challenge before them, the ever-present trial of waiting and boredom until their ship is called for boarding. Thankfully the ever-present answer of 'Looking at your scroll' was a possible answer, but the two decided to do a try a true tactic that they had perfected in practice with their own family during their various family vacations, 'People Watching'.

(~)

**On the Airship**

The game itself only lasted for twenty minutes but had quickly devolved into 'Why is that a weapon?' on Jaune's part and 'Why didn't I think of making that a weapon?' on Nick's part. Thankfully the announcement for starting to board was given and the two brothers were able to quickly find a seat and had started yet another deep and thought-provoking conversation.

"All I'm saying is that having good rear gear is better than having heavy frontward protection because a fleeting sight is much more prominent than a forward one." explained Nick. Jaune had his eyes closed in thought with a hand on his chin and nodding to Nick's words, "Perhaps brother, but as a Knight such as myself I much prefer the front-facing heavy armor, but I dare say I choose the medium front armor for it is not too heavy nor too light, but a perfect balance in between." Nick only hummed at his brother's words, much like many conversations in the past they simply agreed to disagree in the end. They soon fell into silence once more hearing the chatter of the other passengers around them, Nick swearing he heard something bout "Normal Knees" amongst the talking.

Nick then felt an elbow dig into his side, "Nick, check it out!" said Jaune who was gazing out the window. Nick looked through the same window and was surprised by what he saw, overlooking the cliff face was a large castle like structure, even from a distance the sight of such a building was impressive even more so when this was Beacon Academy, their home for the next four years. Nick could hardly wait.

(~)

**Beacon Academy Airship Docks**

"Hey Nick, remind me to send Doc a thank you letter back home for those meds, they helped me out a lot, not even feeling the least bit sick on the entire ride here." Jaune was quite happy for the medicine and was able to enjoy the ride to the fullest, of course, Nick didn't have the heart to tell Jaune that those were just chalk candies that he had given and not the real medicine which was actually a syrup and not a tablet. "Sure thing Jaune." as Nick followed and soon both of them were marveling at the sight and true size of Beacon.

"Huh, I suddenly feel very small now." said Jaune and Nick only raised a brow at that, but his attention was soon grabbed by a sight before him, or multiple sights that is.

Weapons.

'_Oh my yes, I'm not the only one who made a flame sword!_' Nick thought to himself with an ever growing smile. "Gasp! That's a Baseball and machine gun! Wait, is that an electric flamethrower on the end of a tower shield! And is that-"

Nick suddenly felt himself being put into a headlock by Jaune, "Nick what the heck are you yelling for?" Nick then pulled himself out of the hold and then spread his arms wide, "Because of the weapons around us, not only are they awesome but they annoy me as well because their designs are so impractical! I can make better weapons in my sleep, and that's because I use old broken scrap for my weapons!" It was now Jaune's turn to raise a brow at his brother, but he knew and seen the weapons that Nick could create, not only were they dangerous but they also made 'sense' in how they could work and didn't chalk it down to 'Mechashifting' which Nick avoided trying to use as if it were a plague.

"Well Nick if you're done freaking out about weapons, let's see were we need to-"

**BOOM**

Jaune was caught off by the sound of an explosion in the distance and it seemed that Nick heard it as well, both of them looked at each other and nodded in agreement, getting ready to face whatever caused that sound and headed to the direction of where the explosion rang from.

(~)

**Beacon Main Courtyard**

What the brothers didn't expect to see was a little girl in red lying in a crater and almost seemingly miserable and the retreating forms of a girl in black and girl in white with two suited men following behind her with suitcases. Now normal people would've avoided the site of an unknown person in a crater, but Jaune and Nick were not normal, plus being the only boys out seven sisters, all whom they had called 'Big Little Sisters' on account of most of them being 5'5" in height, had created a pseudo 'Big Brother' instinct in both Jaune and Nick, and it was going off at the sight of the girl in the Crater. And in silent agreement, both brothers decided to aid the troubled person.

(~)

**Ruby Perspective**

"Welcome to Beacon." Said a young Ruby Rose to herself, sure she was excited to be at Beacon two years ahead of those at Signal, but after her big sister Yang up and abandoned her to "Be Social" all Ruby managed to do was get blown up and yelled by an angry rich girl, even after she said sorry for crying out loud!

The young reaper's self musings were broken as two shadows were cast over her.

"Need a hand?" one of the shadows asked, as they held an arm out to help her up, which she took the aid of. After dusting herself off she then looked up at the two shadows, no boys in front of her.

The one who helped her up was a blonde boy with blue eyes, a black hoodie with armor pieces on his chest, shoulder, and arms with blue jeans and sneakers.

The boy beside him was a bit shorter than the blonde but still taller than herself, with black hair, hazel eyes and an outfit that reminded her of a police officer she saw in those investigator TV shows.

"So what happened exactly?" asked the black haired one.

"I kinda blew up." was Ruby's somewhat embarrassed reply.

"Neat!" was the response followed by a grunt as the blonde one sent an elbow into the other boy's side.

"Where are my manners? My name is Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue and ladies love it." the blonde named Jaune said with a half grin, Ruby only raised a brow towards him before the other boy stepped forward, "And I'm Nick Ramos, long, zesty, goes with the flow and women enjoy it." the boy named Nick had a grin on his face that reminded Ruby of those salesmen on TV, and caused her give a snort of laughter.

"Do they?" was all she asked. Both boys deflated a little, "Never really asked." was all Jaune said while scratching the back of his head, while Nick held his chin in thought before grinning again and giving Jaune a pat on the back, "But they will in due time bro." Nick then looked at Ruby, "And what do they call you Pequeno Rojo?" Ruby gave a small smile to the two friendly boys, "Ruby, my name is Ruby Rose."

The trio soon found themselves wandering around a part of beacon that had a fountain nearby, having a conversation as they went, "So why did you help me back in the courtyard?" asked Ruby. Nick only gave a 'meh' and shrug but Jaune gave an actual answer, "Eh, why not? Like our mom always says, 'strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.' at least that's part of it anyway."

"Wait, 'our' mom?" Ruby asked with a head tilt.

"Yup, me and Jaune here are brothers, except Jaune is the adopted one." Nick said happily with an arm around Jaune, "He was raised by Eagles until our mom found him. Turns out, he's the sole heir to a great and powerful lost kingdom that has a family with a long history of warriors, but in order to take his rightful spot he must first become a huntsman and slay a mighty dragon with the ancestral blade of his." Nick finished proudly, Ruby now had stars in her eyes at such a tale.

"Wow! Raised by Eagles and heir to a throne! That's so cool Jaune." Jaune for his part grumbled and got Nick into a choke hold, "Sorry Ruby, but Nick was half telling the truth, since Nick is the actual adopted one and we were both raised by a human dad and Faunus mom, but I am an heir of sorts to the family though." Jaune winced a bit at seeing Ruby pout a little, but still smiled that Nick's tale was somewhat true, Nick however was slowly turning blue from lack of air and was let go by Jaune soon after and sharing a laugh.

There was then a beat of silence that lasted far too long for Ruby. "So I got this." and with practiced ease pulled out her beloved weapon Crescent Rose, the sudden sight and cracking floor caused both Jaune and Nick to jump back in surprise. The latter of whom was in a coughing fit after choking on his own saliva from surprise from the sudden weapon.

(~)

**Jaune Perspective**

'_Oh no not another scythe_' was the blonde Arc's only thought. He knew full well Nick had four different scythes of his own, each one being more dangerous and absurd than the last. But maybe he was wrong about it being a scythe and decided to ask, "Is that a scythe?"

"Yup, it's also a high impact sniper rifle." Ruby said while holding the weapon proudly.

'_I really hope I misheard her_' was his worried thought, "A what now?"

"It's also a gun." while she loaded a round into the scythe.

'_Oh that is not good, quick say something nice!_', "Oh. That's cool!" '_Nice save brain_.'

"Yeah, I may have gone overboard when designing it though." Ruby giving a sheepish laugh.

'_Wait, she made that?_' and was once again vocal, "Wait, you made that?"

Ruby gave a proud grin and hugged her weapon a bit closer in affection.

Jaune then gave a quick glance at Nick who was now done coughing and was now looking at Ruby's weapon with an analyzing eye, or staring blankly in thought as he tends to do so when a new idea forms in his head.

"So what do you have?" asked Ruby

"Hm? Oh, just this." Jaune then pulls out his blade and allows for the sheathe to expand into it's shield form. "This is Crocea Mors, a family weapon handed down from father to son for many years as the Arcs have existed, dad says it's indestructible and the blade itself hasn't a need to be sharpened since the day it was forged." Jaune had a smile growing on his face, full of pride being able to use such a weapon that has a history of being used in his family and by many a hero, and then gave a look towards Ruby.

Who seemed to be looking at his blade like a puppy would a piece of bacon, '_Well she does remind me of a small dog, and why do I feel mildly threatened now?_' was the young knight's thought.

"Oh my Oum that's amazing! Can I look at it please? If I can figure out the metal then nothing would be able to surpass Crescent Rose!" Ruby pleaded/appreciated, Jaune only chuckled, "Sorry Ruby, I don't know how it was made since I wasn't born when it was forged, not even our mom knows what kind of metals are in it and she's the best blacksmith we know, plus dad says the metal combination has been lost over the centuries."

Ruby pouted in slight disappointment at this news but seemed to perk up when she remembered about Nick. "And what kind of weapon do you have Nick?"

Jaune smacked his forehead, much to Ruby's confusion and began silently praying for mercy from the gods above that the torment will only be swift.

**THUNK**

He then heard the recognizable sound of Nick's weapon chest coming into existence. Jaune dared to look and saw Nick place a foot atop the chest and lean forward, all with a wicked grin and excitement in his eyes. "Ah cranberries." sighed Jaune.

(~)

**At the auditorium**

So maybe Jaune was over exaggerating just a smidge, but when your brother is asked what kind of weapon he has and just so happens to have a semblance that allows him to carry an entire armory in his pocket, you'd be worried too. Thankfully or oddly enough, depends which way you see it, Nick had lightly kicked the chest open and one of the scythes that Nick owned, aptly named 'Reaper' seemed to jump out of the case and in a fluid motion, Nick grabbed the weapon out of the air and did a few spins with the weapon in hand, all while the chest disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Nick finished his small show by posing with said Reaper, which caused a certain Ruby to have a manic grin and mumbling something about 'found a scythe bro'. But before Ruby could further marvel, an announcement was given and informing that the assembly would begin shortly, and in a red blur, the trio then found themselves in the auditorium, Ruby having said her goodbyes as she raced over to a blonde woman with 'heavy front armor' as Nick had nudged Jaune to point out said fact.

The brothers then walked around to find an empty spot, during which Nick caught a red haired girl looking at his brother Jaune, said woman then saw that she was caught looking by Nick but before she could do anything Nick only gave a small smile and gave a peace sign to the redhead before walking off.

They both found an empty spot to stand at but then saw their new friend Ruby jump into the blonde girl's arms when the girl in white from who they barely saw earlier had seemed to sneak up and yelled at her, and then gave both of them a piece of paper, she began talking, Ruby giving a reply in kind and holding a hand out, the white one began talking once more and then pointed a thumb at Jaune as they both heard her say "Like tall, blonde and scraggily over there."

"Well that was just rude and uncalled for." said a recently insulted Jaune.

Nick only barked a laugh at his brother's misfortune, "Hey bro, two out of three ain't bad, besides I know your shoes actually add to your height overall ya know?" Jaune only rolled his eyes but chuckled nonetheless.

The student body then saw the Headmaster of Beacon, or Headmaster Ozpin as he introduced himself and the Deputy of Beacon, Miss Goodwitch. What then followed was a rousing speech, or at least Nick pretends it was since he had admittedly spaced out for the speech, but judging by Jaune's facial features, the speech seemed to have been a demotivational one of sorts.

Now the brother's began to leave, but not before passing by Ruby and the other two girls with Nick giving a passing comment, "He's a natural blonde you know?" and giving a thumbs up and wink to the girl in white who only turned her head and gave an audible 'Hmmph' but caused both Ruby and blonde girl to grin.

(~)

**Cafeteria**

Both Jaune and Nick found themselves having Dinner in the quite large cafeteria of Beacon, they avoided the large line due to the cafeteria being seemingly packed with initiates and due to Nick having several full meals hot and ready in his storage chest, so now they both sat and had a meal of their dad's roasted sweet onion chicken with their mom's biscuits, much to the confusion of the students around them and had begun to have a quiet meal. This was short lived as Nick brought upon a topic.

"Gonna be honest with you Jaune, I'm going to help get you a girlfriend if it kills me." Nick deadpanned. Jaune for his part was able to save himself from choking on a biscuit mid swallow by downing half of a . "Gah, where the Hell did that come from!?"

Nick only shrugged, "Just saying, I can be a pretty convincing wingman if I attempted to unleash even an ounce of this pure awesomeness, plus I've heard the stories about mom and dad and how he has the density of a pure gravity dust crystal, and mom really hopes that at least that part of him ain't hereditary."

Jaune then points a chicken leg at Nick, "And how come she isn't worried about you then too?"

"Because I'm adopted, and not related by blood, ergo less likely to be as dense." Nick then tapped the side of his forehead head to prove a point. Jaune only huffed out, "It can't be that bad Nick, besides who wouldn't want to be with a blue eyed, tall, blonde knight?" at this Jaune posed as a hero and gave his best winning smile.

Nick only stared back, "Any girl who realizes just what kind of things you're into and keep hidden behind the bookshelf on the third row behind the dictionaries."

Jaune for his part paled a little as the location of his personal treasures were so openly given, he was going to reply but Nick held up a finger, "Also I already know what I'm about Jaune, plus having a personal pocket dimension is truly a great gift for my treasures." Jaune only grumbled about how unfair Nick's semblance was and continued on with his meal while Nick only chuckled at him.

(~)

**Ballroom, Nighttime**

Jaune and Nick both had their fill with home cooking, which Nick informed had been made a week ago, and found open spots in the ballroom where the students were told to sleep in. Nick had used his semblance and pulled out two backpacks out of thin air, one bag being Jaune's and the other being his own.

"Did I ever mention how cool your semblance is Nick?" said Jaune as he pulled out a sleeping bag and pillow.

"Only when we sneak food into the movies and when getting gifts for our sisters and sneaking by them."

Soon both of them had gotten washed and changed into sleeping clothes, Nick was wearing an orange t-shirt with black sweats and red sandals. Jaune was wearing a blue shirt with gray shorts on and blue bunny slippers. Nick raised a brow at the slippers but Jaune defended himself saying that they were comfy and June would be happy to know that at least one part of the onesie was being used. The two brothers sought to relax in their bags, Jaune reading a helpful pamphlet about dust since his own scroll was charging and Nick scrolling through his scroll. The peace was soon ended as a familiar buxom blonde and small reaper approached the duo. "Hey Nick, hey Jaune!" said the little reaper with a wave.

"Hey Rubes." putting the pamphlet away for later

"Yo Ruby, who's your friend?" said Nick giving a peace sign and giving a head nod towards the female blonde.

"Oh right! This is my sister Yang." the blonde then leaned onto Ruby. "Hello boys, Yang Xiao-Long, the most badass sister this side of Vale, no need for the applause of course."

Nick only grinned and then stood up while dragging Jaune up with him, "Well Yang, I'm Nick Ramos, the most awesome mechanic you'll ever meet and this." Nick then hooked an arm around Jaune's neck, "Is Jaune Arc, my brother and future leader of the badass clan that is the Arcs!" Nick said proudly while Jaune was growing slightly red in embarrassment from the tired eyes that Nick had gained upon them.

"Brothers Huh? That's cool and cool to know that me and my little sister here aren't the only odd siblings here now. Ain't that right sis?" The blonde then grabbed her sister in a crushing hug who was soon trying to tap out of the affection.

"Y'all are related? Let me take a wild guess, sisters from the same mister I take it?" Inquired Nick. Yang gave a single finger gun and click of her tongue, "Right on the money Nicky, kinda a little surprised honestly."

"Well, to be honest, it was the hair, can really tell the similarities and also Rojo is turning blue now."

"Rojo?" Asked Yang and Nick then pointed to a now somewhat blue and slowly less thrashing Ruby, who Yang gave a "Woops" and let her go as the little reaper gasped for that sweet air to come back to her.

Before Jaune got a chance to speak, Nick's scroll started ringing in his pocket.

"_Jump up and down and move it all around, shake your head to the sound, Put your head to the ground, Take one step left and one step right~_"

Jaune then looked at Nick, "Why Mambo? And Jo is calling?"

"She wanted the song for when she called and maybe she needs help with one of the schematics, or the sentry cat got loose again." Said a now somewhat worried Nick as he answered the scroll, "Yo ho Jo."

"Ah, well sorry Ruby, sorry Yang, but I think I gotta write a Will for Nick now, but it was cool meeting you both."

"Okay then, night Nick, night Jaune!" Said Ruby cheerfully to the two brothers. "Night boys." said Yang as she wrapped an arm around Ruby, "Well they seem nice sis, plus that's two more friends you can clearly add to your list now!" said Yang, who then spotted a black haired girl in the corner reading a book, "And I think I just found your third friend just now so come on." as Yang began to drag Ruby while she tried her best to dissuade Yang from yet another embarrassing sister shenanigan.

(~)

**?**

The sounds of a car engine revving to life, panicked breathes, the smell of fire and something rotting, the snarls and moans of monsters once human. A once bustling city now burning and dead.

Running past multiple shambling masses, body is so damn tired, adrenaline pumping overtime, the sounds of multiple footsteps chasing from behind. Looking back, they snarl for their meal.

How long has he been running, how long has he been surviving, how long since the outbreak?

Can't give up, survivors still around, gotta find them, gotta save them. _You don't need to save them, save yourself, you already died saving them._

Have to keep going, they're waiting for me. _They're safe now._

Not them, others that I call family now. The snarls from behind turn more animalistic and feral, looking back once again, they wear masks of bone and glowing red eyes.

Concrete and buildings melt into trees and dirt, still running, the snarls are closer, an opening in the trees ahead, safety?

No, a cliff face towering upwards, sheer rocks, escape now!

They surround at all sides, not even a chance to leave now.

Fight, can't, _weapons are gone_.

_That's fine then, they're safe now, my life for them, fair trade._

The beasts howl, darkness surrounds him.

(~)

**Ballroom, Morning**

Nick shot awake from his sleep, a nightmare, he hadn't had one since he was 14, and even before that was when the few weeks after he had been 'reincarnated' as it were on Remnant after dying back in Los Perdidos. A quick look around in order to get his bearings back. He was in Beacon, the ballroom to be exact, it was still early but other students were starting to wake up as well and he very much doubted he could get back to sleep. A snore to his side reminded him that he was awake ahead of Jaune, who had somehow managed to twist himself in his bag upside down. Maybe the hard floor does things to people.

Deciding to let his brother sleep in and bit more like the other students, Nick got his belongings in the bag for the day and decided to clean up a bit, strange that only after two days he starts to get stubbly. A few minutes later Nick was cleaned and dressed for the day now, not yet armed but close enough. Walking back to pack up his sleeping bag, he then saw the sight of his brother stretching awake, mouth wide open with a yawn.

"Wakey, wakey bro, it's time to get up, get dressed and kickass today," said Nick as he put away his items back into his carrying chest and having it disappear soon after, which caused some other students who were just getting up do a double take as to see if they did, in fact, see a chest disappear.

With a few grumbles and partially closed eyes, Jaune got up carrying his toiletries with him to get ready for the day as well and leaving Nick to observe the ballroom for the time being, what he saw was a mass of bodies rising from the floor with clothes in various disheveled states as they slowly shambled about, still not fully awake to the world, they reminded him of zombies, which is saying something since he's seen and killed the real thing, but they weren't perfect.

The main difference was they were still alive, and a good portion of them were female now that he actually looked at them and all really attractive to boot. Varying skin colors, different tones in their muscles and bodies that showed that they were indeed training to fight the forces of darkness and especially the way some of there clothes seemed either tighter or looser in some areas and only allowed further for the mind to imagine what exactly those pieces of cloth were covering, and how the sights of them walking away in what were essentially short shorts was, firm yet squishy looking.

Nick then had a thought, '_Barely a day and already kinda perving on the ladies, way to go Nick, real Hunstman material._'

"Meh, at least it means I'm healthy, I think?" Nick then mumbled to himself.

"Ready to go Nick?" Nick turned to see Jaune ready for the day ahead. "Yup, lemme just get you ole Crocea and we'll be set." Nick, however, noticed Jaune scratching the back of his head nervously and giving a small chuckle, "Funny you should say that Nick."

Nick then raised a single brow at Jaune.

(~)

**Beacon Locker Room**

"I don't understand, at all Jaune." Nick was looking at Jaune, who was looking back and forth between a piece of paper and two lockers, more specifically, lockers 635 and 637, with the locker that had held Jaune's weapon being misplaced... Somehow.

"I mean I have a literal personal pocket dimension and you stick your weapon into a locker, I feel mildly insulted by that bro." huffed Nick with crossed arms. "Well sorry Nick, but you were in the showers and I don't think waltzing in with my weapon into a room of other sleeping people, who are trained in combat by the way, wouldn't have been a good idea." pointed out Jaune, although Nick did see the point in Jaune's admittedly weak argument.

"Well then let's start from 635 and go back downwards, maybe the numbers got mixed around or something?" offered Nick.

"But I would remember counting that high though." moped Jaune.

As the duo set out to find the missing locker, Nick had another look around at the people in the locker room, some of them had impressive weaponry, more so with their armor, but Nick saw how some of them seemed to be either dull or had a bright shine to them, either having been fairly well used, recently repaired or just bought. Of course, Nick was in his own mind now wondering what type of weapons he should take with him.

'_So I'll keep the Med Kit with me just in case, got my pistol holstered on me already, maybe might want to take one of the big guns just to be on the very fun side of safe._' Nick continued thinking until he started to hear a somewhat noble and pompous sounding voice break through his train of thoughts.

What Nick saw was the picture of elegance, at least as far as Nick has seen, everything about her, from her surprisingly long side ponytail to her dress, combat skirt, and even shoes were white in color, save for her skin which was a slightly darker shade of white that made her white clothes seem to stand out more, but what caught his attention the most were those steel-blue eyes, well maybe not steel blue, Icy blue maybe? Blue nonetheless.

'_And I'm staring at her now and now she's staring back at me now, and she has a cute scar... wait._' Nick realized that the girl in white was indeed staring back at him in irritation now. 'Ah crap, think of something quick!' Nick then grabbed hold of Jaune's shoulder, "Hey Jaune, ain't that your locker right there?" as he pointed to a locker that was between the girl in white and the... Female Spartan?

Jaune looked at the locker Nick was pointing at and the piece of paper in his hands, "Huh, so it is, nice catch Nick." Nick gave an internal sigh as he watched Jaune give an 'excuse me' between the two girls, one of which seemed very much irked, and how did she make it known.

"Excuse me, do you have any idea what you're doing?" asked the angry girl in white. Jaune looked at her with a raised brow, "Sorry Snow Angel, I'm just getting my weapons from my locker?" This only seemed to make the girl even more irritated. "You are interrupting my conversation with Pyrrha, you blonde imbecile!"

'_Pyrrha? Why the Hell does that name make my stomach shiver?_' thought Nick.

Jaune looked at the angry white head and then to the now named Red head Pyrrha, "Sup, and sorry about that." Pyrrha gave a small wave, "Hello, and it's fine, Weiss here was just informing me about possible teams, so no worries... sorry but I didn't get your name?"

Jaune then slapped his forehead, "Sorry about that Pyrrha, my name is Jaune, Jaune Arc and it's nice to meet you. Oh! And this is my brother Nick Ramos." Jaune then motioned to Nick who was on the side watching his brother interact with others. "Howdy, names Nick, and in case your wondering, I'm the adopted one and Jaune is single and ready to mingle." Nick then held up two finger guns, and much to Jaune's horror pointed them at Pyrrha. This seemed to tip off the boiling point for Weiss however as she then walked up to Nick and pointed her own finger in anger at him.

"You buffoon, do you have the slightest idea as to who you are talking to?!" even with the height difference, Nick's ears were ringing a bit from the volume of her voice. "I think her name is Pyrrha?" answered Jaune helpfully in his brother's defense while Pyrrha gave another "Hello again."

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum." stated Weiss. Nick only had a blank look and Jaune only gave a shoulder shrug, "Sorry, I don't know what a Sanctum is, but that sounds impressive?" was Nick's answer. Jaune who added his own thought on the matter, "I don't either if that helps, but congrats on that Pyrrha." Jaune gave a thumbs up to the red head with a smile.

"She's won the Vytal Tournament four years in a row!" added Weiss.

It was here that Weiss saw Nick's eyes widen in surprise as he seemed to recall something, and he soon grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and was quite audible about it, "Dude, I know who she is now! The flaming red hair, those brutal emerald eyes, I feel like an idiot for not recognizing her." Weiss now had a stance of satisfaction now at seeing the man before her see the error of his ways, yet Pyrrha seemed a bit saddened about being recognized for some reason. Jaune himself gave a further look at Pyrrah and his own eyes widened as well in recognition. Then as one the brothers all but shouted.

"You're THE BRONZE COMET!" as they both pumped a fist into the air. Causing two reactions from the girls, one being of disbelief and the other of relief. "The what now?" asked Weiss.

Nick then answered, "Like you said Snow Angel, she's the four time champion of the Vital Tournaments, she beat wrestlers like Iron Turtle, Wooden Wombat, and Steel Blade. She always wears bronze and her signature move is The Comet, which is her cannonballing into her opponent with her red hair following like a comet tail." Jaune only nodded, "Yup, and she was only a Rookie as well but now she's slowly becoming legendary status, of course not as great as Silver Condor or Platinum Brick. Still though, it's kinda awesome talking to you in person Comet, me and Nick are big fans of yours too, but maybe we can be friends with you if you don't mind of course?" Jaune then grinned at Pyrrha who had a grin of her own, "That sounds grand."

Weiss's eye twitched at the sight in front of her " Don't call me Snow Angel you utter oafs, and it's 'Vytal' with a 'Y' not 'Vital' with an 'I', and that is Pyrrha Nikos, champion tournament fighter and not a barbaric wrestler!" Both Jaune and Nick looked at her, Jaune being the gentleman and smooth talker that he was eloquently asked, "Huh?"

Weiss decided she had enough and with flailing arms shouted, "She's on the cover of every Pumpkin Pete's cereal box!" Weiss then saw the two brothers have mixed reactions, Jaune gasping in surprise and Nick, having his hand over his face in regret. Wait?

"That's you on the box? They only put professionals and celebrities on those things!" said a now joyous Jaune. Nick slid the hand from his face, "Of course it's really unhealthy nowadays and makes dirt seem like it has more flavor. No offense to you Pyrrha." Pyrrha shrugged, "It's fine Nick, and to be honest, it's not my proudest endorsement."

"But their hoodies are really comfy though." said Jaune proudly.

"Fifty damn boxes in three weeks." mumbled Nick.

The conversation was interrupted by an announcement over the intercoms, "Will all first year students, please report to Beacon cliffs for Initiation. Repeat, Will all first year students please report to Beacon cliffs for Initiation."

"Huh, guess it's close to show time now Jaune, grab your gear and let's get a move on bro." said Nick as a chest appeared in front of him, startling both Weiss and Pyrrha. Jaune gave the two a quick rundown for them, "Nick's semblance, personal pocket dimension, that's his weapon chest, he has two other chests on him plus he can carry eight other items in his personal pocket dimension, not counting what he can carry on his person. Yeah, it's confusing but damn helpful."

Weiss huffed and rolled her eyes and started to go towards the cliffs, Pyrrha gave an impressed brow raised and said her goodbye and good luck to the brothers and left them in silence as Nick gathered his weapons and Jaune equipped his weapon as well. "Oh almost forgot." Jaune then felt a bump on his shoulder after putting his sword in place and saw Nick standing there while holding a black revolver with golden floral designs and engraving around the weapon itself.

"A revolver?"

"Nope, a Six-Shooter, a total of sixty shots before it breaks away like my other guns, but packs a hell of a kick since it isn't dust based." Nick then held the revolver out to Jaune, "For you bro, the sword and shield is good and all but having something to help in a pinch is useful as well." Jaune nodded at this but then was struck with a thought.

"Where am I supposed to hold it?" Nick then pulled out a pistol holster that could clip onto the belt that Jaune had been using for his sword, "It's my gift to you Jaune, besides you're as good a shot as I am plus now you can be a gunslinging knight too, which sounds pretty badass. Now come on, we're burning daylight and we have an academy to get into."

Jaune then saw Nick head towards the locker room exit and then looking down at the holster and revolver that he was just gifted, "Huh, guess it does sound a little badass." he then clips the holster onto his belt then looks at the revolver itself. "Sixty shots huh? And if it is like his own guns then I won't need to reload then." Jaune then holds the revolver out and aims, after getting comfortable with the grip he then spins the barrel of the revolver. "Cool, always wanted to try that." he then holsters his new revolver and heads towards the exit and where initiations are being held.

(~)

**A/N: Damn, that took longer than I liked, it's weird though, once you get the ball rolling it just keeps going and building and before you know it you suddenly have 7,000 words compared when you started with only 4,000 beforehand. But now the next chapter will be different, the same, but different in certain ways. Now then, time for another story, and if you can give me some thoughts on it.**

(~)

**Case 1: The Blonde and The Bear**

A young Hunstman walked into a recently established village of Capesworth, just one of many attempts to expand the foothold of humanity against the Grimm and to open up safe routes for the people who dare to cross these lands alone.

Even for his young age, he was quite tall at 6'5. A mop of golden hair rested on his head, proud blue eyes and the beginning of a blonde beard was growing on his face, wearing a steel cuircass atop a white wool sweater, black gloves, rugged blue jeans and dark steel armored boots that were dusty from the dirt of his travels. Hanging on a belt of his was a dented longsword. He was the first son and youngest leader of the Arc household. He was John Arc, proud huntsman and at this moment a wandering hero. At least that's what passerby thought when they saw this man walk into the village, walking tall and seemingly proud, a stern look on his face, his eyes surveying his surroundings, truly this man was worthy of the title of Huntsman if not the ideal picture of a hero from tales of fantasy, and inspired the very children who saw him walking past.

However if only they could read his thoughts.

'_Oh man, where the Hell am I? First I get jumped by a few bandits and ended up denting my sword after missing my swing on an Ursa that jumped me after the bandits. Then I lose my shield after tripping on a bridge that crossed a ravine, and to make matters worse this sweater is itchy but I can't complain since I lost my backpack after a Beowolf decided to eat the jerky I had kept inside of the bag and tearing all of my clothes to pieces!_' was John's thoughts.

Any passerby of John would see how his stance slightly slumped and seemed disappointed in a matter only he knew of and heard him mumble "Just my luck" as he scratched the back of his head. However, just as quickly, his stance returned and with a renewed vigor and a closed fist he had a determined look on his face.

'Right, first is to get something to eat, then ask where I am and see if I can get my sword repaired.' John outwardly grinned, a good meal after a week of cold rations would be a great deal of good for his suddenly divebombed morale. John's plan was soon put into motion when he found himself standing in front of a tavern, a black sign hanging out front that read 'The Honeyed Hall- Home to Sweet Company' in yellow cursive. With a shrug of his shoulders and nothing else to do John opened the door to the tavern and was greeted with the aroma of baking bread and cooking stew, causing John to gulp the sudden saliva that was in his mouth.

"Oh welcome deary, my you look so skinny! Come come, let Mama Azul feed you!." John suddenly felt himself being dragged in by an older woman that was at least 5'4" in height and reminded him of everything he expected a stereotypical grandmother to look like, slightly wide-body, skin showing signs of wrinkles, a kind smile, oval glasses and black hair turning to white, but what stood out the most was a pair of white pointed dog ears.

As John was being dragged he saw a man with silver hair and matching beard nodding his head with a smile towards the older woman, but before he could ask, John then found himself being sat down at an empty table in the back of a tavern next to a window, other people who were sitting down at separate tables enjoying their meals were chuckling at John and the antics of the older woman which if John was a guessing man, has happened in the past.

"Okay then sweetie, my name is Azul, but everybody calls me Mama Azul." Azul then pulls out a menu from a pocket in her apron and hands it to John. "Just let me know when you've chosen something to eat, take your time deary I'll be right back with your tea." the kind granny Azul leaves John to go over the menu, but John only had one thought. 'What just happened?' He then sees the menu and looks it over before mumbling, "Those pork ribs and bread rolls sound damn good about now actually."

(~)

Julia White was trudging from the local blacksmith's, she had to prove herself that she can use a forge better than anyone, but if she was being honest it may have been due to the man having problems with Faunus or that she was a woman she wasn't completely sure though, she had moved to Capesworth two months ago and was doing the occasional odd jobs to make a living, thankfully the tavern lady and her husband had decided to help her out. "Although, Mama Azul did say that ears this adorable deserve proper loving though." Julia said with a hand rubbing one of her bear ears that were covered with a gray bandana. Mama Azul was a kind and odd person, the same went for her husband since they're both just barely over thirty years old, but enjoy dressing up as an elderly couple. "Even Mama is weird since her full name really is 'Mama Azul', although they do make some damn good pork ribs." Julia's stomach then grumbled at the thought.

"That settles it then, two servings of pork ribs and cheesecake for dessert!" and with a renewed vigor Julia headed to The Honeyed Hall tavern for dinner.

(~)

John took a large drink of the sweet tea Mama had brought him and let out a sigh from the sweet and cold brew. With one arm propped on the table and hand under his chin, John then went deep into thought while staring out the window that showed a view of the outside of... John's brows then furrowed, 'Dammit, I still don't know what this place is called.' yet this fact didn't stop him from viewing the outside world and lost in his own thoughts. He took note of the buildings mostly being made of wood and set with stone for walls, almost cabin-like in nature for the residence. He saw mostly humans and few Faunus villagers walking about, some empty handed and chatting with others or doing their daily tasks, even a few we're carrying weapons. Yet the longer he stared out the window he felt like someone was staring at him, maybe it was just a trick of his hunger ladened mind.

John then let out a sigh, 'Darn, I have enough cash for the meal and maybe a room, but I don't think I have enough to even repair my weapon let alone get any armor.' his hand then gripped itself, "Curse you Ozpin and your cryptic shite, trying to be mysterious..." he mumbled to himself. John's first mission as an official Huntsman was to act as an advanced guard for the town of "Capesworth" until proper defenses could be set up, of course, it wasn't an established area yet so it was not yet put onto any recent maps. John's recent run of luck may have ensured this mission would fail, no matter how mundane, a failure such as this would be a downright embarrassment.

"Order up, Pork Ribs with Rolls and Macaroni!" came a man's shout and John looked up to see Mama walking with a smile on her face and carrying a steaming plate that had John's order. As she set the tray down John was hit with the smell and sound of pork sizzling the meat a slightly golden sear, the smell, and sight of toasted brown bread rolls that shined slightly from the brush of butter on them and a small bowl of macaroni & cheese that had a sprinkle of parmesan on it. "Woah..." was John's only word and he heard the sound of his glass being refilled with tea.

"Just let me Mama know if you want seconds sweetie." Mama said with a smile and a pitcher of tea and left John to his meal. He blinked at the form of Mama head back to the counter and kiss the cheek of the silver haired man behind the counter with a smile. John then looked at the meal, still steaming, and grabbed rib and began to take a bite out of the meat. A few seconds later John was heavily enjoying his, oh so, delicious meal.

Halfway through his meal, his eating was interrupted by an angry and cocky yell of "I didn't think you allowed animals in here Mama, do you want your customers to get fleas or something?" John then saw a bald man standing behind a shorter woman while holding a gray cloth in his hand and angry woman who seemed really damn close to knocking the man out, but the only thing stopping her seemed to be the knife held to her throat.

(~)

**A few minutes earlier**

Julia walked into the tavern, basking at the smell of fresh bread and stew, and hearing the chatter of other patrons within and made her way towards the counter and giving a wave, towards the silver haired man named Aaron Azul. "Hello ello Julia, take it the boss man was being an asshole again?" asked Aaron.

Julia only snorted, "He's an ass to everyone Aaron, I'm no different but I just gotta deal with it longer than others. But right now I don't want to talk about work and I want to eat." she said while rubbing her stomach to emphasize her hunger. "I take it it's two orders of the usual?" asked Aaron as he began to pour a glass of sweet tea for Julia, "Damn straight!" Julia said happily as she took a seat at the counter.

After getting comfortable in her seat she began to look around at the patrons of the tavern, most of them she knew of by face but could barely recall their names, but they knew her as she was always seen working different jobs around Capesworth, but looking towards the back of the tavern was a man sitting near a window, an arm propped up and his face deep in thought. "A new face?" Julia wondered aloud.

"He just wandered right in, Mama took an instant liking to him and sat him down in that table over there. Never even gave him a chance to say anything let alone introduce himself." Aaron chuckled.

"He seems like quite the looker though." Added Julia.

"You and every other single lady in here have the same thought it seems, save for my darling of course." Julia looked at Aaron who then motioned to the other tables, and true enough a good portion of the female patrons had a dreamy expression on their faces as the looked at the blonde man by the window. Julia didn't see the appeal honestly, so what if the sun made his hair seem to shimmer like gold or made his eyes seem like a fantastic blue, or made his white sweater and steel armor seem to glow slightly with a small amount of light. And what if his beard did make him look like a dashing hero-

'_Ah, I guess that's why then_.' Julia thought as she caught herself staring at the unknown blonde man as well.

She then heard the ding of a small bell and a shout from the chef from behind Aaron, "Order up, Pork Ribs with Rolls and Macaroni!" called out the chef.

"You guys are just trying to get a hefty tip out of me aren't you?" Julia asked Aaron with a raised brow. Mama then came by and picked up the order and walked towards the blonde man who seemed to be watching the food comes towards him.

"Oh." was her short reply, Aaron just chuckled, but his face then turned into a grimace when he turned back to Julia, or more so what was behind Julia.

"Hello there Aaron, and hello there my beastly beauty." Julia heard the voice and suddenly felt the bandana she had been wearing be pulled off her head.

"Fuck off Davis." Julia said while trying to enjoy her tea, irritation filled her voice.

"Well, I'd much rather do that to you, Julia." came Davis's cocky reply, the man himself just screamed 'Thug' from his clothes to the bald head to the weapon he used, honestly he would've been mistaken for a bandit if he wasn't one of the hired Mercs used to guard Capesworth for the time being.

"Knock it off Davis, you know our rules here at the tavern." warned Aaron. "Now now, can't a man relax after a day of hunting down Grimm and laying with beasties like ole Julie here?" there was a loud smack as Julia felt her butt get smacked by Davis, she turned around angrily towards him but then felt something sharp poke her neck.

"Hope a Grimm chokes on you, you sorry excuse of a human, you dickless fuck." Julia was beyond pissed but didn't want to cause any more trouble, but Davis decided to add insult to the mix. Loudly going "I didn't think you allowed animals in here Mama, do you want your customers to get fleas or something?" this earned more glares of anger after the commotion slowly caught the attention of the other patrons, one blue eyed patron in particular as well.

(~)

The tavern had grown quite now, the chatter all but died down.

The silence was broken by the sound of a wooden chair scraping against the wooden floor, John had stood to his full height now and made his way towards the counter where the woman and the man with the knife were at, the sounds of his boots thumping, those who saw John passing by would say that his eyes grew bright with a cold fury, some would even say that they heard him growling as well as he passed by. Truly this man was going to bring the utmost pain upon the soul of Davis himself for his actions. Again, if only they could read his thoughts.

'_First I get lost, then bandits jumped me, then an Ursa attacks me after the bandits did, then I lose my armor, lose my shield, bent my sword..._' as John walked towards the man and woman, his stomach let out a rumble, '_had my meal interrupted, and now this COMPLETE AND TOTAL ASSHAT IS DOING SOMETHING LIKE THREATENING A WOMAN, AND I"LL BE DAMNED IF MAMA DIDN"T RAISE NO FOOL!_'

John then felt his own fury building over, as he finally reached the man with a knife, who had a cocky grin on his face as he had seen John walking up towards him.

Davis then asked John, "What you want blondie? If you're looking for a piece of the action then I'm afraid this lady here isn't for sharing, so go find some other bitch since this one is mine you hear?"

John felt more anger now as he felt his fists clench tighter with every word the bald man in front of him said. "Leave the lady alone you bald bastard."

Davis then pointed the knife towards John and stepped towards him, completely forgetting about Julia at the moment. "And what are you gonna do, try and be a hero, well guess what I'm part of Oak Shield Mercenary, and we protect this little town of Capesworth, so I advise you walk on out of here and I'll possibly forget about this little problem, for a fee of course."

John's anger lessened just a bit but a small grin grew on his own face, "You said this place was called Capesworth?" he asked Davis.

"Yeah, that's what I said, what are you deaf now too?" insulted the bald man. Unknown to Davis, Julia was reaching for her glass and ready to smash him over the head while he was distracted, but Aaron held the glass down and mouthed the words 'Just Watch', which confused Julia until she saw the next actions that John was about to do.

"So tell me , do you know how to fight Grimm?" John asked, the grin still present on his face.

Davis only sneered, "Of course I do, wouldn't be a proper Merc if I didn't, why you asking blondie?"

"And do you happen to have any aura?" asked John once again, Davis then felt something urging him to move but he ignored it.

"Well yeah, what kind of fool would fight the Grimm without Aura?" Davis lied, he didn't have aura, Mercs usually took down Grimm in groups, if properly trained.

John then grinned at Davis, yet it was not one of Kindness, "So a Huntsman wouldn't be a problem then?"

"Wha-" was the only thing that left Davis's mouth as he suddenly felt his center of gravity shifted, his feet no longer on the floor, everything was a blur, and next he heard was the sound of wood breaking, the feeling of several things cracking both outside and inside of his body and very air leaving him, and now looking towards the ceiling of the tavern he tried to speak, he really did but the only noise that came out was the sound that was more akin to the air of a balloon being released slowly.

(~)

Julia blinked in surprised and blinked again to see make sure she saw everything right. This blonde man, just up and slammed Davis not only through a table but through the floor itself, and with one arm as well! Just who the Hell was this guy?

"You're going to be paying for that Davis." came the happy voice of Mama, who had been in the kitchen when the whole ordeal had happened but was just in time to see the end result. The only reply she got was a wheeze.

The blonde man who had just slammed Davis suddenly stood ramrod straight and nervous, the suddenly intimidating form vanishing in but an instance, "Sorry Mama, I didn't mean to break your table... Or your floor, or your dishes." the man replied nervously.

"Pah, it's fine John, I'll just let Ozpin know what happened and all will be right as rain." Mama replied happily.

John's eyebrow then raised at the mention of Ozpinm "Wait, how do you know Ozpin?" he asked.

"Well I'm the one who requested for a Huntsman of course, and he sent me a picture of what you would look like once you came by, gotta say, you're about two days early than when you should've arrived, but you must be a professional I take it? Though I did think you would be much shorter than what you looked like in the photo." stated Mama all while looking up slightly at John, "Weather must be nice up there huh?" she said with a grin.

"Uh." John tried to speak but was cut off by Aaron, "Don't worry John, this happens more times than you would think, but maybe not this, hardcore, as it were." he then motioned his head to the now unconscious Davis still stuck in the wood. "But if you really want to make it up, you can work here to pay off the damages to the tavern, you don't need to of course, but I doubt even Davis has that kind of cash on him." John only gulped.

"Ah well, when can I start?" he asked.

"Two days from now, of course, to let you get comfortable with the town of Capesworth and to get to know the locals, maybe even get to see the local smith about your blade too. Ain't that right Julia?" John then followed Aaron's view and looked at the woman he had just saved from Davis. John was immediately sent to his inner thoughts.

'_Woah, she looks strong and those muscles... wait, she's the blacksmith? That's awesome!_' with a smile on his face John held a gloved hand out. "The name is John Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue and the ladies love it." his smile faltered a little and he then mentally slapped himself, truly he had taken his father's ways with wooing women.

Julia blinked for a few seconds, looking at the hand, then up to John, '_He seems like a nice and handsome dork._' she thought to herself. She then gripped John's extended hand in shake which seemed to surprise the man, "Name is Julia White, local Jack of Trades, but mostly smithing. Anyways thanks for the help, don't think the hurting I would've caused wouldn't have been as satisfying as your demonstration John." she added with a sincere smile on her face, she did notice the giant man in front her seem to get a little red.

"It was nothing really, just doing my duty as a Huntsman." he said proudly, yet scratched the back of his head as of he wasn't so sure. His stomach then grumbled loudly, a reminder as to what he was really here for as he looked back to his table where he meal was half-eaten but now somewhat colder.

Julia followed John's gaze to his table, then an idea struck her, "Hey John, how bout I join you for Dinner, wouldn't feel right for my hero to eat alone, plus I hear food tastes better with company at the table."

"Uh, well if you're not bothered by someone like me, then sure." John said with a small smile.

'_Problems with self-confidence much John?_' Julia thought to herself as she made her way to John's table.

The two then spent a better part of the evening eating and chatting with each other, John learning that Julia was an orphan and a faunus, while he made a comment about how cute her ears were. They both had a pleasant time surprisingly, of course during the chatting, John had to stop to help the commander of the Oak Mercenaries, who turned out to be Davis's father, help retrieve Davis who was still out cold and stuck on the wooden floor. After that, the evening soon came to a close, the duo each having full bellies and good laughs, as they both said goodnight to each other and to both Mama and Aaron

And to think, John ended up getting lost, but still found himself at his destination. Tomorrow was a new day, and he had to go the blacksmith to see about his weapon. As he left however to his room, he failed to notice was a certain bear eared lady watching him leave and talking only to her self, "I wonder if he's single."

(~)

**A/N: My chapters are meaty it seems. This is fine. And thus the first case, how John met Julia. Don't worry future cases will involve shenanigans of the Arc bros, but let's get them set up in classes before the fun ensues. Anywho, thanks for reading this far if yu did and leave a review if you would kindly so I can know what I can work on to make the story better. Have a great day.**


	7. Chapter 7

Ch.7: Well that's different I think?=

**A/N: Updating because ****I didn't like how I did it originally.**

**Also if you come for quality then I apologize for that, so you grammar folks out there I do apologize if this hurts or annoys you.**

* * *

Jaune decided to follow the stream of students to the cliffs after leaving the locker rooms where he had found Nick looking at his weapon of choice, the Guan Dao, which was a bladed pole weapon that had a small mace-like bulb on the other end of it, or one of his weapons.

Now that Jaune thought about it, Nick seemed oddly proficient with about any weapons he had in that chest of his, from firearms to even a crossbow that fired hatchets instead of arrows, Hell even Jaune practiced with the weapons that Nick had in that personal mobile armory of his, even what Jewel had dubbed as his 'Uber' weapons, which Jaune would hands down admit were some serious firepower and made him really thankful that Nick was a guy on the right side of the law and not some criminal or terrorist.

"So you ready to get this over with Jaune?" Nick said while pulling out his own weapon as it popped out of existence.

Jaune only shrugged, "It's initiation what are they going to do to us anyways, throw us into a forest full of Grimm?" he joked, as they both followed to where the other students were standing at and saw the Headmaster call for their attention.

* * *

Nick only looked on in a mix of worry and amusement as he saw Jaune get launched into the air with his limbs flailing and releasing a voice that was an octave higher than normal, he had some good lungs on him it seemed. Soon after the other students began to be launched as well and soon enough the ground underneath Nick's feet gave an audible click and shudder, he knew he was about to get launched, and he did indeed have a landing strategy especially since Nick had found an open platform near the end as opposed to Jaune who was closer to the first to be launched. Damn shoelaces were an enemy of Nick.

He gave a glimpse towards his brother who was still in the air. It appeared that Jaune somehow had a switch in his trajectory as Nick could've sworn some kind of long red bird flew into him and carried him into a different direction of the forest. "Damn that's a strong bird," Nick said to nobody in particular. Another click, Nick readied himself, it was time for action.

Nick waited for the launch. Nothing happened. Nick swore he heard someone shout "Birdy No!" from ahead of him. The student beside him launched instead. He was confused now, but maybe it was just a rusty launch pad, he was still in his stance and waited once more. Two more students were launched while Nick still waited. Now he was annoyed and actually stood up from his stance as he saw the last of the students get launched. He stamped his foot onto the launch pad in mild anger now. It was on the fourth stamp did the launchpad work and Nick having been unprepared for it was sent flailing towards the forest with a mix of yelling and various curse words.

Ozpin only looked on in amusement as he recognized the various words that Nick was letting out, "Quite a colorful vocabulary he has wouldn't you agree, Glynda?" as he looked towards his secretary.

The Witch only sighed, "Was that entirely necessary to put a delay on his launchpad, or do you just not like his father?"

"A mix of that plus a bit of having fun since he's already been accepted into Beacon." as he took a louder than needed sip from his mug.

Miss Goodwitch decided it best not to ask what her boss was thinking, she really didn't need another headache so early on in the new school year.

* * *

Nick had only flailed through the air for a short while but quickly righted himself to where he could see the forest below him and the clouds above him. He was elated with the feeling of flight, the feel of the wind and the sight of other students that were still in the air and even saw a few of them succeeding or failing in their landings. 'Now for the landing part', he thought as Nick willed in the only creation that allowed him for some form of controlled flight.

He soon felt the familiar weight that belonged to a set of weapons that he learned from the blueprint he had found called "Mecha Dragon". A strange creation he found in Los Perdidos and one that gave him a short amount of gliding time thanks to what can only be described as a jet pack and a parasol that had been turned into wings. He had forgone to don the dragon head and boxing gloves with knives and only let for the flight part of the set to be allowed.

Let it be known that Nick always carried the Mecha Dragon with him in the event that one found themselves having a sudden flight because you never knew when a Nevermore would swoop in and snatch you up.

Nick allowed himself to glide for a few minutes to get a survey if the forest and perhaps a glimpse of the ruins he needed to locate, he didn't see anything of the sort but did find an area where the trees weren't as dense he decided that this might be the best spot to land. As he neared the ground he removed the Mecha Dragon pack and rolled himself into a kneeling stance with a shotgun he had switched to mid-roll. Was the roll and pose needed? Nope. Did Nick feel a little badass for doing it? Yup.

He then stood up with his weapon at the ready, seeing nothing but more trees and forest in all directions. Nick decided to use a tried and true method of direction when lost. "Eeeny, Meeny, Miney, that way." as he shifted his direction towards the North and with his direction now chosen he headed off.

* * *

Jaune let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, the revolver Nick had given him was a blessing as the barrel still smoked. Three Beowolves now laid dead and riddled with bullet holes, courtesy of Jaune's panicked firing.

A few minutes before the firing, Jaune freed himself from being pinned to a tree by someone's javelin and fell a good few feet onto his ass. Unfortunately, he had landed right when the Beowolves decided to pass on by the tree he had been pinned to. Losing his grip on the javelin and at an awkward angle being unable to pull out his sword, he reached for the next best thing. Several pulls of the trigger and some yelling later, three Grimm bodies lay dead and one Jaune Arc being thankful for his twitchy trigger finger and Nick's 'No Reload' revolver.

Jaune finally deciding that the ground wasn't very comfy anymore, got up and dusted himself off and then looking at the revolver that he had been recently gifted. "Thank you, Nick, and thank you, Flint Westwood." Jaune then noticed the javelin begin to shake suddenly and started to slide itself across the ground.

This understandably freaked out the Blonde as he quickly pulled his shield out and aimed the revolver off the side of it and directly towards the suddenly sentient weapon. He watched as the weapon slid into the nearby bushes like a rabbit running away, and then heard the faint sounds of bushes being rustled as something neared his general direction. Jaune took a firmer defensive stance with his shield and aimed the revolver towards the bushes and stayed quiet as he saw a shape start to appear.

Jaune took note that the person had Red hair, a lovely red actually when he thought about it, emerald eyes that showed a fierce and proud yet kind light within them, and bronze colored armor, wait, he recognized those eyes. "Bronze Comet?" he asked.

'Bronze Comet' only laughed as she was now placing her weapon upon her back. "Nope, just Pyrrha."

Jaune mentally slapped himself for forgetting about the girl that he had met, and mistaken for, back in the locker room. "Sorry Pyrrha, you just looked a lot like her and I'm just a bit jumpy at the moment." he relaxed his stance and holstering both the revolver and his shield.

It took a moment to realize how the redhead had found him, "I guess I got you to thank for stopping me from becoming paste then, huh partner?"

The Spartan smiled, "What kind of Huntress would I be if I didn't save a blonde in need?"

"Geez, your as worse as Nick about that."

Pyrrha only chuckled, "So which way do we go Jaune?" as she looked around her surroundings to only see more forest all around them.

Jaune smiled and stepped forward with a confident air to himself, "I'll show you a method that the Arc family has used for generations." Jaune rolled his shoulders to relax. Pyrrha was now paying attention to the blonde, curious as to what method he would use.

Using his finger to point in each of the cardinal directions while saying, "Eeny, Meeny, Miney, that way." as the blonde then headed off into the West, and leaving a now confused Pyrrha behind.

* * *

Nick had only followed the sound of gunshots but had seen that it was another student and one that he didn't know. So he avoided him by hiding in some bushes. Might've been an asshole move in hindsight but Nick was looking for Jaune, or at the very least someone that he slightly knew, like Ruby or Yang, maybe even Pyrrha.

He had continued on into the forest for some time, shotgun in hand and on alert for any Grimm. Now one would be more worried about their surroundings, but Nick was different. He still had his experience with the time spent in the city of the dead where a zombie lurked around every corner, bathroom stall and abandoned car and he had to learn quickly that reflexes were important to survive.

Nick heard the sound of rustling bushes and scrapping paws rushing from behind him. It seemed like he had a volunteer to see if his reflexes were still good, if not better with his training.

Rolling to the side into a kneeling position, Nick saw the Beowulf that had tried to pounce at him with his back turned going through the spot that Nick had just been standing at. Nick aimed and opened fire on the beast, the added power of gunpowder over Dust rounds was apparent as the right side of the Beowulf was shredded from the shots landing.

Nick didn't get a chance to see the damage as several howls from his left informed him of other Beowulves nearby. Nick stows the shotgun away in his pockets and pulls out one of his more... Unorthodox weapons.

Simply called 'Pummel Blast' it's a simple and confusing combination of a Sledgehammer with grenades that have been duct-taped to all sides of it. What makes it more strange is that once the grenades make an impact, they explode, yet they never disappear making it a Sledgehammer with what could be seen as infinite explosions were now being wielded by Nick, who was all too happy to test it out on actual monsters and not just on dummies.

Nick then saw several of the Beowolves come out from behind the trees, all of them snarling and growling angrily at the mechanic, ready to tear him apart and feast upon him. Nick was already used to that kind of intimidation from the zombies, the only difference was that the Grimm smelled better but only slightly. He then took a fighting stance with 'Pummel Blast' at the ready. The first of the beasts them charged at Nick who charged forth in kind.

* * *

Pyrrha was partially contemplating if choosing Jaune as a partner was a good idea.

She ducked underneath a stinger and heard several gunshots go off from beside her. Jaune having fired back at the Deathstalker that had been chasing them for a good distance after Jaune's "chosen direction", led them to a cave in search of relics.

Turns out that warning painted on the wall of the cave was true, unfortunately for them the beast was none too pleased with having its stinger grabbed by a blonde human.

"Just die already!" yelled Jaune as he let loose several more rounds into the face of the Grimm that chased them. That was something else Pyrhha added to her mental list of questions such as, '_Why hasn't Jaune reloaded once but fired well over thirty rounds from a six-round revolver?_' which was now under her first question of '_Why the Hell did I agree to Pumpkin Pete again?_'

The duo had run a good distance while being chased by the Grimm which seemed to have no intention of slowing down. Pyrrha gave a look back to see if it was indeed keeping up with them and regrettably it was. What she didn't expect was for a Beowulf to collide into the side of the large Grimm with enough force that it momentarily stunned the bigger Grimm as it wondered what the Hell just hit it.

"Jaune, Pyrrha!" came a familiar yell.

The duo didn't bother stopping since Pyrhha knew the Grimm would give chase once again and Jaune didn't even see what had occurred behind him, but now they had a third member running alongside them. Jaune's own brother Nick had joined up with them now after seeing them running in the distance while running from his own problem.

"Nick, where'd you come from?" yelled a surprised Jaune as they continued running.

"Running now, talk later!" as the trio continued running, Jaune dared a look back and saw that they were not only being chased by a Deathstalker but several large Beowolves as well now. Pyrrha saw this as well and only picked up their already breakneck pace.

* * *

"Should I intervene Ozpin, the situation seems to be out of hand." expressed Glynda, the pairs had already been made but the fact that Nick Arc, had somehow managed to upset a small den of Beowolves and his brother, Jaune Arc, had pissed off an Elder Deathstalker had left Miss Goodwitch unsure that the Brothers would even make it out of initiation alive, even with the help of Nikos.

"That will be unneeded Glynda, have some faith in them." came the calm reply of Ozpin. "What of Miss Rose and Miss Schnee?"

"They were last seen nearing a Nevermore nest, after that their whereabouts are unknown, unfortunately." as she continued looking at the screen informed Ozpin of the newest occurrence. "The last of the pairs have been made, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie." she continued looking at the screen and felt mild pity for the poor boy who's partner seemed like she lived off of anything sugary.

"Excellent. Now we simply wait for the teams to be made." Ozpin stated, before squinting out into the distance. "Which shouldn't take much longer to be actually." He saw the form of a Nevermore in the distance flying in the air.

"Ozpin, it appears that Jaune Arc has been thrown by the Deathstalker and towards the direction of the relics." Informed Glynda.

Ozpin didn't answer and merely took a small sip from his Mug, '_I should ask Glynda to send me a copy of that recording so I can send it to John afterward_.' The Headmaster mused.

* * *

"This is why you shouldn't wear hoodies Jaune!" shouted Nick as he saw Jaune maintain a good amount of air time after being launched by the chasing Deathstalker and promptly dodging another swipe from said Grimm. "Screw you, you damn oversized bug!"

The Grimm only roared in anger, the pack of Beowulves close behind the larger Grimm as well.

"Any plans Nick?" shouted Pyrrha.

The two continued to run and were able to gain some distance after going over a section of fallen trees that slowed the larger Grimm chasing them, but giving them just a bit of time to slow down enough to for Pyrrha to pick off a few Beowulves that continued on with her rifle and Nick shooting with his shotgun. Nick tried to think of a plan but he was a designer, not a strategizer, he just shot or smashed his problems away but then he remembered about one very cold weapon he had on his person. Without a moment's notice, he swapped his shotgun for the Cryo-launcher, which was a grenade launcher that froze nearly anything solid upon its icy impact. He then fired several rounds upwards and around the Deathstalker as the landed upon the remaining Beowulves and slowly froze them solid. Nick then pulled out his pistol that he had holstered and fired at the frozen Grimm as they all shattered with the sound of glass breaking and into frozen meaty chunks.

At least that was the Beowulves taken care of at least. The roar of the Deathstalker reminded them that they weren't out of the woods yet.

"Let's go, go, go!" shouted Nick as both himself and Pyrrha continued in the direction that Jaune had been launched.

* * *

Jaune was currently dizzy beyond all recognition after his impromptu flight and crash landing into a tree after being flung by the Deathstalker.

"Owie..." groaned Ruby as she rubbed her head from the impact.

Oh, and how did he forget that he somehow crashed into and provided a form of human cushioning for the little reaper that was now leaned against him.

"Hey there Ruby, mind getting your elbow out of my ribs please?" groaned Jaune.

Ruby then looked around for the source of the voice before looking behind herself, giving a dignified "Eep!" and mid scooting herself back had nearly lost balance off the tree branch. Yet Jaune had dealt with this situation before and quickly grabbed a hold of her shoulder before she could start failing to regain her balance.

"Thanks Jaune, and sorry about that. Wait, how'd did you get up here Jaune?" Ruby tilted her head at the Knight.

Jaune only chuckled, "Got launched by a Deathstalker that was chasing me, Pyrrha and Nick..." His eyes then widened as he remembered that they were still in danger, "Ah Crap, Nick and Pyrrha are still in trouble!" He then stood up on the branch he was on but before he was about to jump he stopped and then turned to Ruby, "And how did you end up here exactly?"

Ruby only pointed upwards with a grin, "Me and Weiss jumped off a Nevermore we were riding!"

"Ah... and where is Weiss exactly?"

Ruby's smile vanished and she only huffed, "I told her to jump!"

"Ruby!" came a new voice shouting out.

"Yang?" as Ruby then looked below the tree to see her sister waving at her with a raven haired girl standing next to her. "Yang!" as she was about to jump down the tree, both her attention and those around her were caught by the sight and sound of an Ursa charging through the tree line and collapsing soon after with an Orange haired girl rolling off it's back, and seeming to be a bit sad that the Grimm was now dead as a second person clad in Green was soon behind her and seemed to be out of breath.

"She rode in on an Ursa?" asked a stunned Jaune.

A new roar of beast sounded throughout for those nearby to hear, a large Deathstalker, the very same that flung Jaune, was currently trying to snap Pyrrha in half. Meanwhile, Nick had somehow managed to be riding atop of the Deathstalker itself and was wailing away at the Grimm with a sledgehammer that Jaune could see had mini-explosions coming out of it. "Is Nick riding on a Deathstalker?" as it was Ruby's turn to ask.

* * *

"Be still you damnable oversized Scorpion so I can keep bashing your skull!" Nick shouted angrily as he continued pounding into the same area of the Deathstalker. While Nick was currently on a wild ride, Jaune tried to save a currently falling Weiss after Yang had a literal explosive outburst. There was an audible crunch soon after, but if it was from Jaune's back or from Nick managing to make a large crack into the Grimm's bone armor was never made clear. There was a meaty smack as Nick spared a glance up and saw Pyrrha sent flying a good distance towards a group of students, some of whom were recognizable because they mostly wore primary colors. Unfortunately, his momentary break in smashing allowed for the Grimm to come to a sudden stop and buck him off causing Nick to be launched and tumble in a heap a few feet away from a very angry Deathstalker now staring at him and clicking its claws. He scrambled to his feet quickly and pulled out his Tactical Axe and raising his shield to guard himself, "So any chance you could forgive me for the head trauma?" Nick asked the Grimm, it only gave an insectlike growl at him. "Thought not." Nick then took the full front of a swipe from the Grimm and was sent flying much like Pyrrha had been before he collided with something or rather someone.

"Why Me!?" Jaune moaned in pain after getting up from his failed attempt to catch Weiss and for the third time, today was used to a cushion to soften the impact of a flying body. Except this one was heavier and not a female as he was knocked over leaving himself and the colliding Nick being sprawled on the dirt and in pain.

Nick began to sit up groggily now from the floor, his arm feeling really damn sore from that heavy strike from the Grimm, "Because you just happen to be Oum's chosen hero Jaune." he replied sarcastically and in slight pain. He then saw a group of Ruby, Yang, Pyrrha, and Weiss run up to them as he saw Jaune now getting up with accompanied groans and dusting himself off. "You enjoyed your flight Jaune?" the pain now subsiding and knowing that his brother was fine once again.

"Meh, didn't get any food served, service was terrible but the view was horrifying." Jaune added with a wince, "Also how'd you get on the Deathstalker anyway?"

"I asked Nicely."

"Nick, Jaune you guys alright?" Came the shout of Ruby as the group finally met up with them, "You guys slid really far!"

Nick and Jaune looked at each other and then slightly behind Ruby and, sure enough, there was a sliding trail within the dirt a good few feet away from where Jaune had been originally standing.

"Yeah! That guy was like flying and smashed into her in the air!" Came the loud voice of an Orange haired girl as she pointed at Jaune then at Ruby before pointing at Nick, "And then you flew through the air and everyone here has flown through the air and Nora wants to fly darn it!" as she stomped her foot.

"Nora please settle down, they might be injured." came the calm voice of the man in green.

"Okay Ren!" came the happy reply of Nora.

"Not to be rude guys, but isn't there a Deathstalker and Nevermore getting closer to us at the moment?" came the sudden voice of a girl in black in white, "Name's Blake by the way."

"Oh right, that's important, I'm Jaune and this is my brother Nick." Jaune introduced themselves and Nick gave a thumbs up and a grin.

"I'm Ruby and this is my sister, Yang." Ruby added happily with Yang giving a "Sup' and winning smile.

"I'm Weiss Schnee, a pleasure." said Heiress did a curtsey.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos, but I'm sure you've heard about me." added the Spartan a bit shyly in the last part.

There was a loud roar from said Deathstalker and the monstrous cawing of the newest guest of a very big Nevermore. The Deathstalker now closing in and coming into view as the group of trainees began to arm themselves and the sounds of weapons being drawn and loaded were heard. Yang then decided to add to the mood, "Well at least will know each other's name before we die then huh?"

"We got this." Came voices of both Nick and Jaune, with the rest of the group looking at the brothers and their source of confidence. Nick noticed the looks before and shrugged, "Just trust us, or more so Jaune, he's the brains I'm the brawns."

"And why should we trust you two simple minded oafs?" asked an almost appalled Weiss.

Jaune and Nick only looked at each other and then towards the oncoming Deathstalker, Jaune then stepping forward and speaking loudly enough with Nick following behind. "Simple Snow Angel, me and Nick will slow the big bug while you guys get a relic and try to take down the big bird up there. Once you get that done, split up to see who fights what since Nick and myself will stay down here."

"And dare I ask how exactly you're going to do that?" Weiss asked again as she raised her weapon at the nearing Grimm.

Jaune then put away both his sword and shield back on his hip and pulled out his revolver before smiling, "With a gun." Weiss and most of the group looked at the weapon that Jaune pulled out, basically a peashooter against that tank of a Grimm. Jaune still held a smile as he stowed his revolver away, "But if that doesn't work," Nick then clapped his hands and was now holding a Light Machine Gun with a pleased grin, "Use more gun." As Nick handed him the weapon.

"But sometimes Overkill is needed, such as now so you wanna go ahead and do the honors Jaune?" Nick asked as he stepped aside to pull out his weapon box, and began to dig through it.

Without another word, Jaune began to charge in while giving an excited yell with a white glow surrounding the gun. Weiss merely stood surprised, much like the others save for Ren who only raised a brow at the blonde who was currently charging into what was certain death, Ruby was transfixed on Nick's weapon chest like a dog looks at a steak and Nora was shaking, with excitement.

Ren then looked at Nora before he blinked once and Nora was gone, he blinked again and Nora was back and holding a chess piece up towards him. "Here's your relic Ren, time to fight now!" Yelled Nora as she charged forward and followed Jaune with her weapon in its grenade launcher variant. Jaune then started firing while still charging at the Grimm and Nora laughing as she began lobbing her rounds at the Grimm as well. Ren then looked at the others and then at Pyrrha, "Is Jaune your partner by any chance?" he asked.

The Spartan only blinked and then looked at Jaune avoiding the attacks of the Grimm and still firing, and then looked at Nora now hitting that very Grimm with a large hammer before looking at Nick... Who was now dipping waist-deep into the box with a pile of different weapons on the side? She then looked back at the blonde, "Yup, he sure is." She was going to charge into battle as well but stopped momentarily, she then turned around towards the ruins and grabbed two relics, one for herself and one for Jaune. She then made her way back to Ren with a smile, "So it's safe to assume that Nora is your partner as well?"

Ren looked at Nora who had been smacked into a tree, but quickly got up and used her hammer to smack the tree at the Grimm as Jaune barely avoided the sudden force of nature and Ren saw that the Grimm had several holes in it and burning streaks from the several hundred bullets that Jaune was still firing from his weapon. Ren only sighed, "It may be best for us to join in then." as he began towards the two and the Grimm with Pyrrha only chuckling and following close behind as well.

The remaining group of Weiss, Blake, and Yang only watched as the group of four were now doing serious damage to the Grimm now with each of their own weapons and sometimes there own person glowing white and doing some more damage to the Grimm when they did happen to glow. Weiss only saying the first thing that comes to mind, "They're all insane, every one of them."

Yang only shrugged, "Guess that leaves the bird for us then?"

"Oh right, the Nevermore is still around isn't it. Actually how come it hasn't attacked yet?"

The trio then looked up, promptly ignoring the laughing of Nora and the screeching of the Deathstalker and saw the Nevermore circling around them.

* * *

The Nevermore was at ends with itself at the moment, on one wing it had a chance for revenge to eat those two small ones that rode on its back and possibly throwing its feathers to impale the other small ones. But on the other wing, the screams of pain coming from the Elder Deathstalker and the laughter of the orange one that smelled like the sweet sap of the big trees followed by the sounds of gunfire that sounded like it lasted longer than any of those guns that those other humans in the past ever used, maybe it'll just give a silent prayer to Salem and strike when those other humans either get weak or finish killing the Deathstalker.

Yeah, that sounds like a damn good plan, besides that can't possibly reach it up here while those silly humans are down there. The Nevermore was now believing itself to be untouchable in the sky, as it looked down once more as it was circling around and caught sight of a white streak being sent in its direction. Well, it only caught the barest of sights a blue ball of energy sailing at it before the Nevermore tried to screech in pain but was unable to do so thanks to a rather large hole in its neck now.

The Nevermore plummeted from the sky and began to disintegrate while still falling.

* * *

"Woaaah, Ruby likes, Ruby likes a lot." happily drooled the little Reaper after firing the Railgun that Nick had pulled out, thought about using it, and placed it with the rest of the weapons in the growing pile that was next to him. A pile that was currently leaving Blake, Yang, and Weiss with confused and questioning thoughts while Ruby merely looked at the weapon pile like a kid during Dustmas and it happened to be their birthday on that day as well. Her eyes had glued onto that very Railgun and while messing with the weapon she took aim and pretended to blast the Nevermore out of the air, but had unknowingly set the correct steps needed to charge up the weapon and so happened to be aiming at the Nevermore before it sent a single high velocity bullet of energy and extreme force towards the unlucky bird.

Needless to say, the Nevermore was no more and the Trio of Yellow, White, and Black were left further speechless by the actions of Red.

Nick didn't seem to realize that Ruby fired the Railgun in the first place as he only stared at his weapon chest with annoyance, and then looked at Ruby with a tilt of his head as she was holding the smoking gun with a very pleased look on her face as she was seemingly cuddling with the Railgun now. He didn't need to ask anything as he had the urge to look up and saw the Nevermore was spiraling towards the ground, dead and with a very messy chunk missing in its neck. Nick pieced things together and only chuckled. "So I guess the Nevermore is taken care of then?"

Ruby stopped mid cuddle and snapped her attention to Nick, then to the Railgun, then to Blake, Weiss and her sister who were all looking at her still with surprised looks on their faces. She realized what exactly she just did and was currently doing as an embarrassed blush overcame her as she dropped the weapon with an "Eep!" and pulled her hood over her face to hide. "I'm sorry! I didn't think it was going to do that, but it looked so shiny and awesome and cool, and... and... I'm sorry!" came her muffled voice.

The group's attention was turned away from the blushing Ruby to the death wails of the Deathstalker that Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were currently fighting. Jaune didn't have the Light Machinegun anymore but even at a distance, they saw that the poisonous gland of the scorpion was dangling by a meaty thread and seemed to have several bullet marks all love its body but more so on its tail. Missing several limbs and the crack in its skull that Nick made earlier looking to be far larger than beforehand. The Deathstalker was moving more violently now, swiping away at the four to no avail.

Yang, having snapped out of her current surprised state decided to ask, "Shouldn't we go help them kill that thing faster?"

As if hearing her, Jaune shouted out a command, "Pyrrha, throw it! Nora, Hammer it in!" as he gave this command, Pyrrha threw her shield to separate the last bit that held onto the glowing gland while Jaune positioned himself as a stepping stool with his shield to allow Nora to stand atop it and helped launch her up with the help of his own strength and Nora's self-propelled strike to go into the air with a calling laugh as she came back down with her hammer to drive the gland into the Deathstalkers body like a nail, a final killing blow.

Nick only looked back at Yang, "Nah, they got it."

* * *

The group had returned to Beacon thanks to a lift from a Bullhead after having finished killing off the Deathstalker and Ruby having one shot the Nevermore with Nick's Railgun. Yet on the ride back, there was one glaring problem that was made abundantly clear. Everyone had collected a relic and had paired up a with a partner, everyone but Nick who didn't have a partner and no relic either since by the time they went to the ruins there were no relics up for grabs. Most of the group expressed their concern on the matter, mostly Jaune and Ruby, but Nick said that it was no big deal and was just glad that they got their objective done instead.

Now back in the Auditorium, Ozpin had called upon students four at a time so that teams would be created and Nick was thankful for these small distractions as he listened to the various names that were given. It wasn't until after the creation of Team CRDL did the newly named Team JNPR was created and was surprised when Jaune was made team leader. If the look that Nick saw on Jaune's face was any indication was to go by then Jaune was more surprised by this news as well, but then had to rub his arm after Pyrrha gave him a congratulatory slug on the arm. Then Team RWBY was made with Ruby being named Leader of the team, Nick was sure that might get confusing in the coming weeks for them. Nick then brought a new sadder thought to Nick as he wondered exactly he would tell the family that he didn't get into Beacon, but that Jaune became team leader, "Maybe I can open a Weapon Repair shop in town?" he mumbled to himself.

Soon after several more teams had been made and named and Ozpin gave his final words of congratulations and good lucks to those who were unable to succeed. Nick only looked down in shame at that, but a pat from Jaune and Ruby told him that things will still be good. The students then began to leave the auditorium with the new teams going to the recently assigned dorms that were sent to them via Scroll. Jaune decided to have Nick walk along with both teams since Ruby told them that their dorms seemed to be right across from each other and had engaged in small talk from the day's events. Ruby asking Nick about his many weapons while Yang was asking Jaune and Pyrrha about how they got a Deathstalker to chase them, as they were walking around a corner, Ruby bumped into someone.

"Oof, ow... Sorry about that!" apologized Ruby, but stopped midway through another apology when she saw who she had bumped into, but the Headmaster himself.

"Ah, what a coincidence that I happened to bump into you all." Ozpin stated calmly.

"Headmaster Ozpin!" shouted Weiss as she quickly got beside Ruby and bowed while having the reaper to bow alongside her with a "Gah!" of protest by forcing her head down, "I apologize for my team leader and hope we didn't cause any trouble for you!" The bothers were surprised by Weiss's sudden behavior while Ozpin allowed a small smile.

"No harm is done Miss Schnee, but as I said before, it is a coincidence that I happened to bump into you all. I assume that a Nick Ramos Arc is with your group at the moment?" asked Ozpin.

The group then looked at Nick himself as he gave an audible gulp and stepped forward, "Yes sir, I was just planning on giving my goodbyes before leaving for the Bullheads back home." Nick admitted.

Ozpin only hummed at the mechanic before speaking, "But why would you need to leave when you are already a student here? In fact, you didn't need to even do the initiation in the first place."

Ruby and Weiss were done bowing and weren't sure if the had heard correctly what the Headmaster just said, even Nick was understandably confused, "Sorry Headmaster, but did you say I was already accepted and didn't need to go through initiation?" Nick asked carefully.

"That is correct Mister Ramos, it was made clear that due to familial matters that were in charge of your brother Jaune Arc. Your father, John Arc, informed me of such a situation and I simply took appropriate measures." Ozpin then hummed before continuing, "Although I was impressed in your performance with dispatching the Beowolf den and it would be a shame to allow a semblance such as yours go to waste."

...

"Huh?" Was all Nick asked, much of others were surprised or remaining quite from the news given to Nick by the Headmaster himself, but it seemed Ozpin still had more to say, "Ah, also before I forget, here is your key to your personal dorm and due to you being without a team you shall be the fifth member of both teams of JNPR and RWBY." At this point, Ozpin held out a Beacon issued Scroll out to Nick as he even said it doubled as a key to his dorm. After which he gave a simple nod and turned to leave but not before Nick had one question.

"Sorry Headmaster, but is this exactly allowed?" As Nick waved the scroll, Ozpin didn't turn around but spoke clearly enough, "Mister Ramos, I am the Headmaster of Beacon, I've allowed a student in two years ahead of their time," Ruby gulped, "allowed for possible criminals a chance to turn a new leaf," Blake shifted slightly, "and saw to that all damages caused to a popular nightclub by an initiate were paid for," Yang decided to look in a direction that wasn't Ozpin, "So simply put Mister Ramos, I can do what I want within my power of course." '_and because it's fun to see what outcomes can come of this._' came his errant thought. "So without further ado, I will see you all tomorrow." as Ozpin gave a raise of his mug towards them as he continued walking away from the group.

The group was quiet now, except for a somewhat giddy Nora who all but jumped on Nick, "Yes! I have a Hammer Brother now, isn't this awesome Ren!"

Jaune only looked at Nick who seemed to be drawing a blank at the moment and decided to say the first thing that came to mind, "Uh, congrats Nick, I think?"

Ozpin was still able to hear the voices of the group as he was walking away and had a smile on his face while he spoke to himself, "I wonder how this year's fresh blood will handle the coming months?"

* * *

**A/N: Fuckin Hell I was dead. Too many ideas, some better than others, used better ideas and lots of re-working, next chapter is gonna be a nonsense one, also ain't planning on following the plotline and kinda want to do some more 'Off the Book' chapters, like Frank West being Velvet's guardian aura.**

**But if you've actually read to this point then good on ya, and if ya can leave a review so I can know what to work on that would be just dandy. Have a great day and stay safe out there.**


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